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2 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Köln (City of Cologne) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| In circulation to | 1923 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed entirely in black on a light grey guilloche underprint, the reverse presents a plain but elegant typographic layout. The denomination "2.000,000,000" is set in large outline numerals across the lower centre, with "Stadt Köln" in Gothic blackletter script arching above a small ornamental lozenge device. The surrounding field is filled with an intricate rosette guilloche pattern enclosed within a fine-line decorative border, and the value "2 MILLIARDEN MARK" is repeated in the top and bottom margin bars. The vertical side margins carry the repeated legend "STADT KÖLN" in small capitals. |
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| Signature(s) | Konrad Adenauer (Oberbürgermeister) |
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| Comments |
Cologne's municipal government was one of hundreds of German local authorities forced to print their own emergency currency during the hyperinflation of 1923, as the Reichsbank simply could not produce notes fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. This 2 Milliarden Mark note was printed locally by Kölner Verlags-Anstalt und Druckerei — the city never had to look far for capacity.
The signature is the reason collectors pay attention to this piece. Konrad Adenauer was Oberbürgermeister of Cologne from 1917 to 1933, two decades before he became West Germany's first Chancellor. His facsimile signature appears on Cologne's Notgeld issues as a matter of administrative routine — though routine is not quite the word for authorizing a two-billion-mark banknote.