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100 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Essen (City of Essen) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Brown-toned notgeld note with a large oval guilloche underprint at left centre bearing the Essen civic coat of arms — a divided shield with eagle and crossed swords set within a star-burst frame. The denomination 'Hundert Millionen Mk' is rendered in bold Gothic blackletter script across the centre field. A serial number appears at upper right, with the issuing text and date 'Essen, am 22. Sept. 1923' and the facsimile signature of the Oberbürgermeister at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Grey-printed reverse with a wavy-line guilloche underprint filling the left panel, inscribed with repeated 'NOTGELD DER STADT ESSEN' and '100 MILLIONEN 100' legends in spaced letterpress. To the right, a circular vignette contains a bust portrait of a male figure rendered in a graphic, expressionist style. The upper and lower borders repeat the oval denomination motifs consistent with the obverse layout. |
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| Comments |
Essen issued this note at the height of the Ruhr occupation crisis, when French and Belgian troops had seized the industrial heartland and the German government's policy of passive resistance had essentially collapsed the local economy. Municipal and corporate emergency money — Notgeld — flooded the Ruhr in 1923 precisely because the Reichsbank could not keep pace with hyperinflation that was doubling prices every few days. A hundred million marks sounds extraordinary; by late 1923, it wouldn't have bought a loaf of bread.
Essen, as home to Krupp, was among the most politically charged cities in the occupied zone. Local issuance here carried weight beyond mere liquidity — it was a direct administrative response to a situation the central government had effectively abandoned.