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2 000 000 Mark Deutsche Bank
| Issuer | Deutsche Bank, Filiale Barmen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Printer | Bockmühl & Karthaus, Barmen |
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| Obverse description | Purple and cream Notgeld issued in Fraktur blackletter script throughout. The left stub carries the denomination '2,000,000 Mark' vertically alongside a circular Deutsche Bank Filiale Barmen vignette with guilloche rosettes. The main panel bears the issuing text within a geometric guilloche underprint border, with the date 'Barmen, den 25. August 1923' and a manuscript control signature at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in grey-blue on cream paper, the reverse centres on a large Imperial German eagle vignette bearing the interlaced 'DB' monogram on its breast shield, encircled by the branch inscription. Denomination panels '2,000,000 Mark' appear in white relief lettering on dark guilloche fields to the left and right. An ornate floral and ribbon border frames the entire composition. |
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| Comments |
Deutsche Bank's Barmen branch was one of numerous regional offices empowered to issue emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation crisis of 1923, when the Reichsbank simply could not produce notes fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. A 2,000,000 Mark denomination, staggering by any peacetime measure, was already worth less than a loaf of bread within weeks of printing.
Bockmühl & Karthaus was a local Barmen commercial printer, not a specialist security press. That matters: the note lacks the intaglio depth and anti-counterfeiting refinements of Reichsdruckerei output, relying instead on basic letterpress production — a practical concession to speed over security at a moment when the currency itself was evaporating faster than forgery was worth attempting.