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1 000 000 Mark Provinz Oberhessen

Issuer Provinzialkasse Gießen (Provinz Oberhessen)
Year 1923
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Printer Brühl, Gießen
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Obverse description Plain cream paper note with a light grey scrollwork and foliate guilloche underprint covering the entire field. The denomination "Eine Million Mark" is set in large blackletter type at centre, with the issuing authority title "Notgeld für die Provinz Oberhessen" and the government approval line above in smaller blackletter script. Validity and redemption details appear below the denomination, with the place and date "Gießen, im August 1923" at lower left; a handwritten signature of the Oberregierungsrat appears at lower right above the printed title line, and a red serial number is printed vertically in a boxed panel at the right margin.
Obverse lettering Notgeld für die Provinz Oberhessen
Genehmigt von der Regierung
Eine Million Mark
Gültig bis 31. Oktober 1923
Einlösungsstelle: Provinzialkasse Gießen ::: Einlösungsfrist: Monat November 1923
Der Provinzialdirektor der Provinz Oberhessen:
Oberregierungsrat
Gießen, im August 1923
Brühl-Gießen
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Comments

Oberhessen was one of the Prussian provinces issuing its own emergency currency during the hyperinflation peak of 1923, when the Reichsbank could not print fast enough to meet demand. The Provinzialkasse Gießen — essentially the provincial treasury — had legal standing to issue notgeld at this denomination, which by mid-1923 represented almost nothing in purchasing power. A million marks was a bus fare, briefly, before it wasn't even that.

Brühl in Gießen was a regional printer pressed into service like dozens of similar firms across Germany that year, producing notes in days rather than weeks. Overprinting and rapid reissue at higher denominations were common for this series.

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