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10 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Köln (City of Cologne) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Size | 155 × 104 mm |
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| Obverse description | Blue-toned notgeld note with a fine guilloche wave underprint across the entire field. At left, a vertical vignette panel in red-pink carries the crowned Cologne city coat of arms with the inscription 'Stadt' above and 'Köln' below in Gothic lettering. The denomination '10 Millionen Mark' is printed in large bold Gothic type at centre, above a row of interlocking oval guilloche rosettes rendered in red. Above, the text 'Gutschein über' appears with a serial number at upper right; below, a clause of validity, the issuance date 'Köln, den 9. August 1923', series designation 'SERIE C', a red circular official seal, and a manuscript signature above the title 'Der Oberbürgermeister' complete the face. The printer's imprint 'Kölner Verlags-Anstalt und Druckerei A.G.' appears in small type at the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in brown on a light blue guilloche wave underprint, the reverse is dominated by a large central vignette of elaborate scrollwork and interlaced ornamental bands enclosing a row of seven oval rings forming the numeral '10000000'. Above the vignette, the inscription 'Stadt Köln' is rendered in Gothic script within a semicircular cartouche. At the lower centre of the vignette, a small circular medallion bears the Cologne city arms. The overall design is restrained and purely typographic-ornamental, without pictorial imagery. |
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| Comments |
Cologne's municipal administration, like dozens of German cities in 1923, was forced into the position of currency issuer during the hyperinflationary collapse of the Reichsmark. This particular note bears the signature of Konrad Adenauer, then serving as Oberbürgermeister of Cologne — a role he held from 1917 until the Nazis removed him in 1933. He would not hold executive authority again until 1945, when the Americans briefly reinstated him before dismissing him themselves, and then again from 1949 as West Germany's first Federal Chancellor.
The ten-million Mark denomination, astronomical by any prewar standard, was already being overtaken by inflation within weeks of printing.