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2 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt- und Landkreis Aachen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Printer | Aachener Verlags- und Druckerei G.m.b.H., Aachen, Germany |
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| Obverse description | Printed in red and green on white paper, the note is framed by a multi-layered guilloche border in dark and red tones. The denomination 'Zwei Milliarden Mark' is printed in large red letterpress type at centre, above which the issuing authority 'Stadt- und Landkreis Aachen' and the voucher legend 'Gutschein über' appear in Gothic script. Two circular official seals flank the signature area at lower centre, and a vertical red-framed panel at left bears the validity restriction text in Gothic script, valid until 1 April 1924. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in green, the reverse carries a fine guilloche border of interlocking geometric and floral rosette patterns enclosing a central rectangular vignette. The vignette presents a stylised silhouette skyline of Aachen's historic ecclesiastical architecture, dominated by the spires and towers of Aachen Cathedral and the Rathaus, rendered in solid green against a plain ground. A small engraver's or printer's mark is visible in the upper right corner of the vignette frame. |
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| Comments |
Aachen's city and rural district administration issued this two-billion Mark note in the autumn of 1923, when Reichsbank currency was depreciating so fast that municipal and regional authorities across Germany were printing their own emergency money — Notgeld — simply to meet payroll and keep markets functioning. At this denomination, the note wasn't exceptional; by October 1923, trillion-Mark notes were already circulating elsewhere in Germany.
Aachen's position on the Belgian and Dutch borders gave its hyperinflation a particular edge: hard foreign currency was available just across the frontier, which made the worthlessness of local paper even more visible to the population holding it.