Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
10 000 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtkasse Bielefeld (Stadt Sparkasse Bielefeld) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | STADT SPARKASSE BIELEFELD ZAHLE GEGEN DIESEN SCHECK AUS GUTHABEN AN UNS ODER ÜBERBRINGER ZEHN BILLIONEN MARK. BIELEFELD, DEN 16. NOVEMBER 1923. 10 BILLIONEN BIELEFELD, DEN 15.12.1922 STADTRAT EINGELÖST WIRD DIE SER SCHECK AN ALLEN KASSEN IN BIELEFELD U. IM KREISE HALLE I.W. 1 BILLIONMARK + 1 BILLION MARK FROH EIN GEWIMMEL MÖCHT ICH SEHN, AUF FREIEM GRUND MIT FREIEM VOLK ZU STEHN DRUCK: E. GUNDLACH A.G. BIELEFELD. GESETZLICH GESCHÜTZT D.G.M. |
| Reverse description | Printed in green and black, the reverse is designed in an inverted orientation relative to the obverse, giving a note that reads correctly when turned upside down. A central green hexagonal panel carries the issuer name 'Stadt Sparkasse Bielefeld' in Gothic script, flanked on left and right by the denomination 'Zehn Billionen Mark' in large decorative lettering. Dramatic silhouette vignettes fill the upper and lower registers with fantastical scenes of winged creatures, mythological figures and caricatures of nations including Deutschland and Frankreich, all executed in a bold Expressionist paper-cut style consistent with Bielefeld's celebrated Notgeld artistic tradition. The four borders are densely printed with satirical text listing consumer prices and political commentary referencing the Treaty of Versailles and the Rhineland occupation. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Bielefeld occupies a peculiar footnote in Weimar hyperinflation history as the city that issued Notgeld on linen, leather, silk, and pressed coal — novelty materials that attracted foreign collectors paying in hard currency, which was precisely the point. This note, however, is paper: the utilitarian end of Bielefeld's emergency currency program, denominated at ten trillion Mark and printed locally by E. Gundlach during the absolute peak of the inflation crisis in late 1923, when the Reichsbank's own presses could not keep pace with demand.
At that denomination, the note would have bought little more than a loaf of bread — possibly less, depending on the day.