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100 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Kettwig a.d. Ruhr (City of Kettwig on the Ruhr) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Typographically dense Notgeld note printed in dark blue ink on cream paper, with a repetitive denomination underprint border of '100000 M' running along all four edges forming a guilloche-like frame. The central text field is set in Gothic blackletter script, with 'Kettwig a.d. Ruhr' rendered in a large ornate display typeface at the top, followed by the promise-to-pay legend and the denomination 'Hunderttausend Mark' in bold letterpress. The issue date 'Kettwig, den 15. August 1923,' appears at lower left alongside the facsimile signature of the Bürgermeister at lower right, with a handwritten series and serial number printed vertically along the left margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in dark blue ink on cream paper and divided into three distinct vignette panels separated by diagonal-striped borders, all enclosed within a scalloped outer frame. The left panel depicts a spinning wheel and a wayside cross, alluding to local textile and religious heritage; the central panel presents a picturesque townscape of Kettwig with a church steeple rising above half-timbered houses reflected near water; the right panel shows an industrial scene with heavy machinery and a crane, referencing the Ruhr region's manufacturing character. The denomination '100.000 M' repeats across the upper border, and 'STADT KETTWIG A.D. RUHR' is inscribed in bold capitals along the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
Kettwig an der Ruhr was a small textile-manufacturing town on the eastern bank of the Ruhr, administratively independent until its absorption into Essen in 1975. Like hundreds of German municipalities in 1923, it issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — when the Reichsbank could not keep pace with hyperinflation's demand for ever-larger denominations. The 100,000 Mark figure, staggering by any peacetime measure, was already losing purchasing power within days of printing.
Municipal Notgeld of this period was typically printed by local or regional jobbing printers on short runs, which means paper quality and ink consistency vary considerably even within the same series.