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20 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Pirmasens |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Notgeld (emergency currency) voucher printed in black on a lilac-toned paper ground, enclosed within a decorative guilloche border with ornamental corner devices. The issuer's name 'Stadtgemeinde Pirmasens' appears at the top in bold gothic lettering above a dark panel inscribed 'ZWANZIG MILLIONEN MARK', with the central denomination legend 'Zwanzig Millionen Mark' rendered in large blackletter script. Two circular red municipal seal impressions flank the central text, the issue date 'Pirmasens, 12. Sept. 1923' appears at lower left, and the authorization line 'Das Bürgermeisteramt:' with two manuscript signatures is at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | Wer Gutscheine nachmacht oder verfälscht, oder nachgemachte oder verfälschte sich verschafft und in Verkehr bringt, wird mit Zuchthaus nicht unter zwei Jahren bestraft 20 MILLIONEN Der Zeitpunkt der Einlösung wird öffentlich bekanntgegeben. |
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| Comments |
Pirmasens was a shoe-manufacturing town in the Palatinate, and its municipal authority — like hundreds of German local governments in 1923 — was forced to issue its own emergency currency when the Reichsbank could not supply denominations large enough for daily transactions. By the time this 20-million-Mark note was printed, that figure bought roughly a loaf of bread, if that.
Municipal Notgeld of this denomination was typically printed locally on whatever press and stock were available, which is why paper quality and registration vary so dramatically within the same series. Pirmasens examples are not among the more heavily documented issues from the hyperinflation peak, making precise dating within the August–November 1923 window difficult without the specific issue date.