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20 000 000 000 Mark Schönau im Wiesental
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Schönau i. W. (Municipality of Schönau im Wiesental) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Notgeld coupon printed in brown and black on light blue-grey paper with a fine floral guilloche underprint. The left panel contains a circular ornamental wreath vignette enclosing the bold numeral '20', with the series designation 'Lit. B.' below and a stamped serial number at upper left. The right panel carries the issuer's name 'Stadtgemeinde Schönau i. W.' at the top, the denomination 'Zwanzig Milliarden Mark' in large display type, the place and date 'SCHÖNAU I. W., den 1. November 1923', a manuscript signature on behalf of 'Der Gemeinderat:', and redemption clauses at foot; the printer's imprint 'Alb. Wetzel, Schönau I. W.' appears in small type at the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in dark blue-black on plain light paper and carries a single central text panel enclosed within a decorative border of fine parallel rules with corner ornaments. The panel sets out the standard German Weimar-era counterfeiting penalty warning in letterpress typography. The surrounding area is largely plain, with faint ghosted impressions of the obverse text visible through the paper. |
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| Comments |
Schönau im Wiesental was a small textile town in the Black Forest, and like hundreds of German municipalities in autumn 1923, it printed its own emergency currency because the Reichsbank simply could not supply denominations large enough for daily transactions. The 20-billion Mark figure is not an exaggeration for effect — by November 1923, a single loaf of bread in Germany cost several billion Marks.
Alb. Wetzel was a local printer, not a specialist currency house, which is exactly the point: Notgeld at this scale of inflation was produced by whoever had a press and paper.