Catalog
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| Issuer | Fried. Krupp Aktiengesellschaft, Essen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in dark brown on a pale green guilloche underprint, with the full field occupied by typeset and letterpress text in Gothic Fraktur script. The issuer's name "Fried. Krupp Aktiengesellschaft, Essen" appears at the top, above the large central denomination inscription "Eine Million Mark" and the numeral "1000000", set within an elaborate wavy-line guilloche panel. The date "Essen, 24. Juli 1923" is at lower left, with the validity clause "diesen Gutschein in Zahlung bis 31. Dez. 1923" and three manuscript signatures of the Direktorium at lower right; a serial number is printed in blue at the top centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Eine Million Mark Eine Million Mark |
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| Comments |
Krupp's issuance of emergency currency during the 1923 hyperinflation was not merely a corporate convenience — it was industrial necessity. The Reichsbank could not print fast enough to meet payroll demands, so major firms like Fried. Krupp AG were authorized to issue their own notgeld, denominated in marks that were already losing value faster than the ink dried. A million marks in August 1923 bought roughly what ten marks had bought two years earlier.
Krupp's notes circulated almost exclusively within the company's own wage and canteen economy in Essen — accepted by local merchants by informal agreement rather than legal obligation.