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10 000 000 Mark Kreis Mayen
| Issuer | Kreis Mayen (District of Mayen) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Printed in dark blue on a pale ochre-yellow guilloche underprint, the obverse is dominated by the denomination 'Zehn Millionen Mark' set in ornate Gothic blackletter script, with the value '10 MILLIONEN' repeated vertically along the left margin. The issuing authority heading 'Kassenschein des Kreises Mayen' appears at the top within a decorative rule border, followed by letterpress text noting authorization by the Reichsfinanzministerium and the validity clause. The place and date 'Mayen, den 20. August 1923' appear at lower left, with the Landrat's manuscript signature and serial prefix 'III M' at the foot. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Embossed seal |
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| Comments |
Kreis Mayen — a small administrative district in the Rhineland — issued this note at the absolute peak of Weimar hyperinflation, when the Reichsbank's printing capacity had so completely collapsed that local authorities, municipalities, and even private firms were legally permitted to issue their own emergency currency, known as Notgeld. By mid-1923, the denomination of 10,000,000 Mark, which would have been an absurd fiction two years earlier, had the purchasing power of perhaps a loaf of bread.
The embossed seal was the district's primary anti-counterfeiting measure — crude by any standard, but sufficient when the note's useful lifespan was measured in days rather than months.