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100 000 000 000 Mark Reichsbanknote
| Issuer | Reichsbank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 100 000 000 000 Mark (100 000 000 000) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Typographically printed note on pale green-grey paper, dominated by the large Gothic blackletter denomination inscription EINHUNDERT MILLIARDEN MARK spanning the upper half of the face. The heading REICHSBANKNOTE appears at the top in sans-serif capitals. The lower half carries a block of legal text in German, the issue date BERLIN, DEN 26. OKTOBER 1923, and the inscription REICHSBANKDIREKTORIUM flanked by two circular Reichsbank eagle dry-stamp impressions; the numeral 100 appears in large figures at the lower right. A vertical anti-counterfeiting warning legend is printed along the left margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted and plain, displaying only the show-through of the obverse letterpress impression visible through the thin paper stock, with no independent design elements; an oak-leaf watermark pattern is present in the paper to the right. |
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| Comments |
By the time this note entered circulation in late 1923, the Reichsmark-denominated printing industry was struggling to keep pace with hyperinflation that was doubling prices every few days. The 100 billion Mark denomination — unimaginable a year earlier — was itself rendered nearly worthless within weeks of issue. Workers were reportedly paid twice daily and sent home immediately to spend before the afternoon exchange rate erased their wages.
Pick 126 is one of several emergency high-denomination notes printed in-house by the Reichsdruckerei in Berlin under extreme production pressure. The watermark was retained more as inherited convention than as meaningful anti-counterfeiting measure — forging worthless currency was hardly a criminal priority in November 1923.