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20 000 000 000 Mark Rheinfelden
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Rheinfelden (Baden) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Brown letterpress note with a central guilloche-bordered vignette bearing the issuer name 'Stadtgemeinde Rheinfelden / Baden' and denomination '20.000.000.000 Mark' in teal, flanked by corner value tablets reading '20 Milliarden'. The municipal heraldic lion shield appears centrally below, accompanied by a manuscript signature for the Gemeinderat, dated 29. Oktober 1923. Marginal panels carry historical inscriptions about Rheinfelden's civic development. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A line-art vignette of the Rheinfelden townscape shows a stone arched bridge over the Rhine in the foreground, with the church tower and rooftops of the old town rising beyond in a panoramic composition printed in brown. The denomination 'Zwanzig Milliarden Mark' is set in bold teal letterpress at the foot, while teal inscriptions at upper left and right carry the town motto and an appeal to emergency currency. |
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| Comments |
Rheinfelden's twenty-billion-mark note was issued during the final, almost incomprehensible phase of the German hyperinflation — by November 1923, the Reichsmark had collapsed to 4.2 trillion per dollar, and municipalities across Baden were printing their own emergency currency simply to pay workers before the day's wages lost further value. Stadtgemeinde Rheinfelden, a small Rhine border town, was one of hundreds of local authorities forced into the Notgeld business not by choice but by the complete failure of the central money supply.
Local printing on this denomination was the rule, not an anomaly. The Reichsbank could not distribute currency fast enough to keep pace with devaluation.