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2 000 000 Mark Reichsbahndirektion
| Issuer | Deutsche Reichsbahn, Reichsbahndirektion Karlsruhe |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 000 000 Mark (2 000 000) |
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| Obverse description | Ochre-toned Notgeld voucher printed on plain paper with a pale floral guilloche underprint forming an oval centerfield. The denomination 'Zwei Millionen Mark' is set in large blackletter (Fraktur) type across the center, above a block of small-print redemption text and the issue date 'Karlsruhe, den 10. August 1923'. A manuscript facsimile signature of the Reichsbahndirektion appears at lower center, with the serial number and a series letter 'T' positioned at the upper left and right margins respectively, and the numeral '2.000.000' repeated three times around the border. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed entirely in ochre on white paper, the reverse carries a bold symmetrical vignette of stylized spread wings flanking a central vertical staff, evoking a heraldic or railway emblem in an Art Nouveau manner. A curved ribbon banner at the top bears the inscription 'REICHSBAHNDIREKTION KARLSRUHE', while the large numeral '2000000' occupies the center of the composition. Flanking scroll banners to the left and right read 'GUT FÜR' and 'MARK', with the surrounding border filled with dense foliate and guilloche ornament. |
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| Comments |
Railway emergency money — Notgeld issued directly by the Reichsbahndirektion Karlsruhe rather than by a bank or municipal authority — proliferated rapidly in 1923 as hyperinflation made centrally-issued denominations obsolete within days of printing. The Reichsbahn operated its own payroll system and had both the bureaucratic apparatus and the political weight to issue scrip that workers and local merchants would actually accept.
At 2,000,000 Mark, this note sits in the middle of the inflation curve — high enough to seem absurd by prewar standards, already inadequate by late 1923, when the Reichsbank was printing denominations in the tens of billions.