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| Issuer | Stadt Mülheim an der Ruhr |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black on cream paper and divided into two main zones by an ornate letterpress border with a deckle-edged inner frame. The left zone carries the text panel in Fraktur script with the denomination "Einhundert Tausend Mark" in large decorative lettering at centre, flanked by two impressions of the municipal coat of arms of Mülheim an der Ruhr at upper-left and lower-left, and the alphanumeric serial number along the left margin. The right zone contains a detailed architectural vignette of a Romanesque church tower with surrounding buildings, with the numeral "100000" printed in bold at upper-right and lower-right corners. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 100000 100000 |
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| Comments |
Mülheim an der Ruhr was one of hundreds of German municipalities that took paper currency into their own hands during the hyperinflation of 1923, when the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to meet demand. These Notgeld issues were emergency instruments, authorised locally and redeemable — in theory — through the issuing town's treasury. By mid-1923, 100,000 Mark was already a trivial sum, worth less each day it sat unspent.
The watermarked paper suggests procurement from a commercial stationer rather than a specialist security printer — a detail that tells you something about the chaos of the period and the speed at which these notes had to be produced.