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2 000 000 Mark Birkenfelder Landesbank
| Issuer | Bank für das Nahetal A.-G. (Birkenfelder Landesbank) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 000 000 Mark (2 000 000) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Plain cream stock printed entirely in dark grey letterpress with no pictorial vignette. The district arms of Birkenfeld — a quartered chequered shield — appear twice in the left margin, flanking the monogram 'BL', while the denomination 'Zwei Millionen Mark' is set in large Gothic blackletter script across the centre, with the numeral value 'Mark 2.000.000.-' and a handwritten serial number in the upper register. An oval embossed dry stamp of the Bank für das Nahetal A.-G. / Birkenfelder Landesbank is applied at lower left, with two manuscript signatures above the printed legend 'Kassierer.' |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely unprinted and left blank. The embossed impression of the issuing bank's oval dry stamp is visible in mirror image at the lower right, and handwritten notations in violet ink appear at centre-left, likely representing accounting or exchange tallies added during circulation. A substantial area of red ink staining is present at the upper left quadrant. |
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| Comments |
The Bank für das Nahetal was a regional Rhineland institution that found itself issuing emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflationary collapse of 1923, when the Reichsmark was losing value so rapidly that local banks, municipalities, and even private firms were authorized to print their own circulating notes to meet basic payroll and commerce demands. By the time denominations in the millions became necessary, the entire exercise had become an exercise in keeping pace with a printing press that could never run fast enough.
The dry stamp serves as the primary authentication device — a telling economy of means for a note that itself represented an economy in freefall. Birkenfeld, a small administrative seat in what was then disputed occupied territory, was an unlikely origin for circulating paper of this magnitude.