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| Issuer | Stadthauptkasse Breslau (City of Breslau) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Green and grey letterpress Notgeld note with a decorative guilloche border framing the entire design. At left, a vignette of the Breslau city coat of arms — an elaborate heraldic shield surmounted by a helmeted figure bearing flags, with foliate scrollwork — set within a panelled cartouche. The central field carries the large numeral '100' above the bold denomination inscription 'HUNDERT MILLIONEN MARK', with the issuing authority 'Der Magistrat' and date 'Breslau, im September 1923' below, flanked by a circular magistrate seal. A red serial number is printed vertically at right, and the printer's imprint of Grass, Barth & Comp. appears at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Die Stadthauptkasse in Breslau zahlt gegen diesen Gutschein dem Einlieferer IN WORTEN: 100 HUNDERT MILLIONEN MARK Breslau, im September 1923 Der Magistrat Die Gültigkeit erlischt mit dem vom Magistrat bekanntzugebenden Zeitpunkte. Druck: Graß, Barth & Comp. W. Friedrich, Breslau |
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| Comments |
Breslau's municipal treasury — the Stadthauptkasse — was among the hundreds of German local authorities forced to print their own emergency currency during the hyperinflation of 1923, when the Reichsbank simply could not produce notes fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. This 100-million-Mark denomination, unthinkable even a year earlier, had become effectively worthless within weeks of issue; by November 1923, a single US dollar was worth over four trillion Reichsmarks.
Grass, Barth & Comp. (W. Friedrich) was a Breslau-based printing house, so the note was both designed and produced locally — no outside contractor, no Berlin intermediary. That proximity shows in the speed of production rather than the quality of it.