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 Mark Württembergische Notenbank
| Issuer | Württembergische Notenbank |
|---|---|
| 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 | 160 × 104 mm |
| 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 | Black letterpress on an orange and cream guilloche underprint. The denomination 'Zehn Milliarden Mark' is set in bold blackletter script across the centre, with the issuer name 'Württembergische Notenbank' repeated in the top border and along both vertical margins. An anti-counterfeiting warning in Gothic script appears beneath the top border, and the place and date of issue, Stuttgart, 11. Oktober 1923, is printed below the central vignette, flanked by two manuscript signatures for the Aufsichtsrat and the Vorstand. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in brown on a salmon-pink guilloche underprint, the reverse centres on the coat of arms of Württemberg supported by two rearing stags as heraldic supporters, with the numeral '10,000,000,000.' arched above. The blackletter inscription 'Zehn Milliarden Mark' dominates the middle field, below which a two-line payment promise reads that the Württembergische Notenbank will pay the bearer on demand in Reichswährung. A red serial number and the oval WNB monogram cartouche appear at lower left and centre-right, with a recall notice dated 30. November 1923 printed at the foot. |
| 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 |
The Württembergische Notenbank was one of four German private note-issuing banks — alongside the Bavarian, Saxon, and Baden institutions — that retained the right to issue currency under the Reichsbank Law of 1875. By late 1923, that institutional history had become almost absurd: ten billion marks was, at the peak of the hyperinflation, barely enough to cover a tram fare. The Notenbank was printing denominations that would have been incomprehensible to its founders fifty years earlier.
Stuttgart-printed issues from this period often show uneven ink distribution caused by the sheer speed of press runs — quality control was simply not a priority when notes became worthless within days of issue.