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2 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Crefeld (City of Krefeld) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Brown and ochre note with a central text panel enclosed in a decorative letterpress border, bearing the issuer name "STADT CREFELD" at the top with a small heraldic vignette above. The denomination "Zwei Millionen Mark" is rendered in bold Gothic blackletter script at centre, flanked on each side by oval vignettes of local architectural scenes set against a fine guilloche underprint. The date "Crefeld, den 13. August 1923" and a facsimile signature of the Oberbürgermeister appear in the lower portion of the central panel, with the serial number and letter prefix printed at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Brown and ochre note with a central cartouche in a cloud-like guilloche frame carrying the inscriptions "Stadt", the numeral "2 000 000", and "Crefeld" in Gothic blackletter script, set against a light underprint bearing repeated "2000000" numerals. Two full-length vignettes of male figures in working attire — a bare-chested labourer to the left and a uniformed worker to the right — frame the central panel within dark lateral borders ornamented with repeating geometric patterns. |
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| Comments |
Krefeld's municipal administration — like dozens of German cities in 1923 — assumed emergency note-issuing powers during the hyperinflationary collapse, producing Notgeld denominated in the millions as the Reichsmark disintegrated in real time. The 2,000,000 Mark denomination places this note squarely in the summer-to-autumn 1923 window, when municipal and corporate issuers scrambled to provide usable currency faster than the Reichsbank could print it.
Wilhelm Wefers was a local Krefeld printer, not a specialist banknote firm — which is exactly the point. By mid-1923, the technical barrier to issuing emergency currency had collapsed entirely. Dr. Johansen's signature as Oberbürgermeister gave it legal standing; Wefers gave it physical form.