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2 Mark
| Issuer | Kreissparkasse Geldern |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The central panel, set over a yellow guilloche underprint with a stylised foliate pattern, carries the issuer's name in large blackletter script above the bearer clause and the denomination "Zwei Mark". Flanking the central panel are two lateral vignettes in teal and yellow: the left bears the arms of the Kreis Geldern — a crowned shield with a rampant lion — above the account inscription "Konto S 150", while the right displays a composite heraldic coat of arms above the serial number. The date and manuscript signature of the Kreiskommunalkasse appear at the foot of the central panel, with the printer's imprint "Flemming-Wiskott A.G. Glogau" below the lower border. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is dominated by a large central vignette in green, teal, and yellow, representing a mythological dragon or sea-serpent reclining before a radiate semicircular sunburst with a stylised Gothic town skyline visible behind it; a diagonal overprint in blackletter reads "Gelre Gelre". Bands of text in an archaic Low Rhenish dialect run along all four borders, narrating the local legend of the dragon. The denomination numeral "2" appears in boxed cartouches at the upper left and upper right corners, with the printer's registration mark "D.R.G.M. 795679" in the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
Geldern's Kreissparkasse issued this 2 Mark note during the hyperinflationary spiral of 1922, when municipal and district savings banks across Germany were authorized to produce their own notgeld to compensate for the chronic shortage of small-denomination Reichsbank currency. Carl Flemming & Wiskott in Glogau were among the more prolific commercial printers of this emergency paper, supplying dozens of local issuers simultaneously — which raises the reasonable suspicion that the plate design by Köttschau was shared or adapted across multiple commissions rather than commissioned exclusively for Geldern.
The district of Geldern sits in the Lower Rhine region, historically tied to the Duchy of Guelders.