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100 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Kempten im Allgäu (City of Kempten) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Typographic Notgeld note printed in dark green on pale rose paper, with an ornate guilloche border enclosing the full face. The denomination 'Hundert Milliarden Mark' is set in large Gothic blackletter across the upper centre beneath the issuing authority legend 'Notgeld der Stadt Kempten im Allgäu', with a serial number to the upper right. A body of German Gothic text details the redemption conditions and bears the date 'Kempten, 2. November 1923', followed by three manuscript signatures below the heading 'Stadtrat:', each identified by title as Stadtrat, 1. Bürgermeister, and Finanzrat. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Notgeld der Stadt Kempten im Allgäu Hundert Milliarden Mark zahlt die Stadtkasse dem Ueberbringer in Reichsbanknoten. Der Gegenwert ist in bar oder Reichsschatzanweisungen bei der Staatsbank hinterlegt. Der Stadtrat ist befugt, dieses Notgeld jederzeit mit einer Frist von einem Monat zur Heimzahlung aufzurufen. Kempten, 2. November 1923 Stadtrat: Stadtrat 1. Bürgermeister Finanzrat Allgäuer Druckerei und Verlagsanstalt Kempten |
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| Comments |
Kempten's hundred-billion-mark note dates from October or November 1923, the absolute peak of Weimar hyperinflation, when municipal and commercial authorities throughout Germany were authorized to issue their own emergency currency — Notgeld — simply because the Reichsbank could not print and distribute legal tender fast enough to keep pace with daily price increases. By that stage, a single U.S. dollar was worth roughly four billion marks, meaning this denomination bought embarrassingly little.
Printed locally by the Allgäuer Druckerei, with engraving credited to C. Voesenmayer. The watermarked paper was one of the few concessions to security on notes that were, by design, temporary — the Rentenmark stabilization arrived in mid-November 1923, rendering the entire series worthless within weeks of issue.