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| Issuer | Stadtkasse der Stadt Wetzlar |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 000 000 Mark (2 000 000) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Printed in green on cream paper, the note is framed by an elaborate letterpress border composed of repeating geometric and floral guilloche rosettes at the corners and along each side. The central text panel carries the issuing authority and denomination in Gothic Fraktur script, with 'Zwei Millionen Mark' rendered in a large display typeface. To the right, an ornate vertical cartouche encloses an oval medallion bearing the numeral '2' above the word 'MILLIONEN', set against a solid green ground with decorative scroll-work above and below. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | No Die Stadtkasse der Stadt Wetzlar zahlt dem Einlieferer dieses Gutscheins Zwei Millionen Mark Der Termin der Einlösung wird öffentlich bekannt gemacht. Wetzlar, den 10. August 1923. Der Bürgermeister. Scharfes Druckereien, Wetzlar. |
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| Comments |
Wetzlar's municipal treasury issued this 2-million-mark note at the absolute peak of Weimar hyperinflation, when German cities and towns printed their own emergency currency — Notgeld — simply because the Reichsbank could not supply denominations fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. By August 1923, a note of this face value was worth roughly what a few loaves of bread had cost the previous week.
The Scharfes printing works was a local Wetzlar firm, and the use of a hometown printer was typical of the practical urgency behind late-phase hyperinflation Notgeld — municipal authorities could not wait for outside suppliers.