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100 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Magistrat der Stadt Dortmund (für die Stadt- und Landkreise Dortmund und Hörde) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 100 000 000 Mark (100 000 000) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed hyperinflation Notgeld in brown on a pale ochre guilloche underprint, with the large numeral '100' set in ornate letterpress type at upper centre, flanked by circular and diamond decorative devices, surmounted by 'MILLIONEN' in bold sans-serif lettering and 'MARK' in spaced capitals below. The lower portion carries the issuing and validity text in German script, dated 'Dortmund, am 24. September 1923', with a circular embossed city seal bearing an eagle vignette at lower left and two manuscript signatures of municipal officials at lower right. A cautionary validity inscription borders the top edge and an authorisation legend referencing the Reichsminister der Finanzen runs along the bottom border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely unprinted, left as plain cream-coloured stock with no design, text, or ornamental elements, reflecting the expedient utilitarian production methods characteristic of German Notgeld emergency currency issued during the hyperinflation crisis of 1923. |
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| Comments |
Dortmund's municipal administration issued this note under joint authority covering both the city and the surrounding Landkreise of Dortmund and Hörde — an arrangement that reflected how quickly the Reichsbank's distribution network had collapsed under hyperinflation by mid-1923. Local governments, chambers of commerce, and industrial firms were all printing their own emergency currency simply to meet weekly payroll, since the official supply of banknotes was perpetually behind the depreciation curve.
Fr. Wilh. Ruhfus was a long-established Dortmund printing house with deep roots in commercial and trade publishing, pressed into Notgeld production along with virtually every other press in the Ruhr that autumn. The 100-million-mark denomination, staggering by any earlier standard, was already becoming obsolete weeks after printing.