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10 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Duisburg (City of Duisburg) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 164 x 92 mm |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in brown on a cream ground with a yellow guilloche underprint, enclosed within an ornate Art Nouveau foliate border with stylized floral and acanthus motifs at the corners and edges. The denomination "Zehn Milliarden Mark" is set in a large Gothic blackletter script across the centre, with a multi-line text in Kurrent script below stating the redemption conditions through the municipal savings bank and branch offices in Duisburg. The lower left bears a circular red official seal of the Stadt Duisburg Notgeld, alongside the date "DEN 25. SEPT. 1923", the issuing authority "Der Oberbürgermeister i.V.", and a manuscript signature; the word "NOTGELD" appears in the lower border, and the denomination "10 Milliarden" is repeated at the upper corners. A vertical ornamental strip with serial number and letter prefix is attached to the left margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse mirrors the ornate Art Nouveau foliate border of the obverse, printed in the same brown on cream with a yellow guilloche underprint. The centre field carries a large numeral "10" above the denomination "Milliarden Mark" in bold Gothic blackletter, flanked by the inscription "NOTGELD DER STADT" above; below the denomination appears the city name "DUISBURG AM RHEIN" accompanied by the municipal coat of arms of Duisburg. The word "NOTGELD" is repeated in the lower border panel, and "10 Milliarden" appears at the upper corners. A vertical ornamental strip is attached to the right margin. |
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| Comments |
Duisburg's municipal administration — like hundreds of German cities — became a de facto currency issuer during the hyperinflation of 1923, stepping in as the Reichsbank failed to keep pace with denominations that doubled within days. This note, denominated in the ten billions, was issued during the period of Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr, which had begun in January 1923 and directly strangled the region's industrial tax base, accelerating local fiscal collapse faster than almost anywhere else in Germany.
Notgeld at this scale was not commemorative — it was functional desperation, spent within hours of receipt before its value evaporated.