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2 Mark Straßenbahn Berlin, Issue 4 - Berliner Pferdeeisenbahn
| Issuer | Berliner Straßenbahn (Der Magistrat Berlin) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | GILT BIS AUF WIDERRUF DURCH BE/KANNTMACHUNG IM GEMEINDEBLATT. Bei Benutzung der städtischen Straßenbahn BERLIN 1 MÄRZ 1922 DER MAGISTRAT GUT FÜR ZWEI MARK 2 MARK |
| Reverse description | Printed in black with red lateral ornamental borders on cream paper, the reverse centres on a detailed line-art vignette of a horse-drawn tramcar numbered 30, lettered 'Berliner Pferde-Eisenbahn No. 30' on its side, with passengers on the open upper deck and a horse team in motion on a cobbled street set against an urban backdrop. The denomination '2 MARK' runs vertically in bold letters along the left border, with the serial number printed vertically at right. The upper and lower black bands carry the inscriptions 'BERLINER PFERDEEISENBAHN' and 'AUS DEN JAHREN 1865/1902' respectively. |
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| Comments |
Berlin's horse-tram network — the Pferdeeisenbahn — was one of the oldest urban transit systems in German-speaking Europe, but by 1922 it was a ghost of itself, having been converted to electric operation decades earlier. This fourth-issue Straßenbahn note was emergency scrip, part of the vast Notgeld flood that municipalities, transit operators, and utilities resorted to as Reichsbank currency became practically worthless during the hyperinflationary spiral. The Magistrat issued it to keep trams running when wage payments and change-making had become logistically impossible with official denominations.
Transit Notgeld from Berlin in this period tends to survive in higher quantities than rural issues — large print runs, urban distribution — but the fourth issue specifically circulated hard and degraded accordingly.