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| Issuer | Altenburg (Thuringia), City of |
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| Year | 1923 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Typographically composed Notgeld note printed in black on pale pink-tinted paper with a light green underprint bearing repeated numeral patterns. The note is framed by a decorative border of interlocking ornamental rules, with the issuer designation 'Stadtnotgeld · Altenburg Thür.' in a ruled cartouche at upper left and the denomination 'M. 100000' in bold type at upper right. The large-face denomination 'Hunderttausend Mark' is set in blackletter script across the centre, beneath which appear two manuscript signatures — attributed to 'Der Stadtrat' at left and 'Der Stadtdirektor' at right — flanking a circular official ink stamp of the city of Altenburg, with series letter 'Lit. A.' at lower right and a statutory forgery-warning legend in small text along the lower margin. |
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| Obverse lettering | Stadtnotgeld * Altenburg Thür. M. 100000 Hunderttausend Mark Ausgegeben im August 1923. Verfalltag: Ein Monat nach Aufruf Der Stadtrat Der Stadtdirektor Wer dieses als öffentliches Zahlungsmittel geltende Notgeld nachmacht oder verfälscht oder nachgemachte oder verfälschte Geldscheine sich verschafft und in Verkehr bringt, wird nach den Bestimmungen des Strafgesetzbuches mit Zuchthaus nicht unter 2 Jahren bestraft Lit. A. STRITZKE & CO., ALTENBURG S./A. |
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| Comments |
Altenburg's 100,000 Mark note was issued during the hyperinflationary spiral of 1923, when German municipal and regional authorities — Gemeinden and Städte — were legally empowered to produce their own emergency currency, Notgeld, to address the chronic shortage of usable tender. By mid-1923, the Reichsbank's own printing output couldn't keep pace with the collapsing purchasing power of each successive denomination.
Stritzke & Co. was a local Altenburg printer, not a specialist banknote firm — which shows in the production values typical of provincial Notgeld of this period. The 100,000 Mark denomination, which would have seemed extraordinary just months earlier, was already being overtaken by events before the ink dried.