Catalog
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| Issuer | Reichsbank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1924 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 160 × 95 mm |
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| Obverse description | The face is divided into two vertical panels within a rectangular ornamental frame offset to the left. The wider left panel carries the principal inscriptions against a German eagle underprint. The narrower right panel presents a vignette reproducing Albrecht Dürer's 'Portrait of a Young Venetian Woman' within a rectangular border, with the serial number above and the denomination below. Ornamental guilloche elements frame the denomination value in the right field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | REICHSBANKNOTE 20 20 20 ZWANZIG BILLIONEN MARK WER BANKNOTEN NACHMACHT ODER VERFÄLSCHT ODER NACH- GEMACHTE ODER VERFÄLSCHTE SICH VERSCHAFFT UND IN VERKEHR BRINGT, WIRD MIT ZUCHTHAUS NICHT UNTER ZWEI JAHREN BESTRAFT 20 20 |
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| Comments |
This note was printed in early 1924 but carries a November 1923 date — the peak of the German hyperinflation, when the mark had collapsed so completely that the Reichsbank was issuing denominations in the tens of trillions simply to keep transactions functioning. The stabilization came with the introduction of the Rentenmark in late November 1923, which meant notes like this one were already obsolete before most of them had even left the press.
With over twelve million printed, surviving examples are common. The denomination itself — 20 trillion marks — exchanged at the time for exactly two Rentenmarks.