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20 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt- und Landkreis Gelsenkirchen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse repeats the green tone and dense underprint of '20 MILLIONEN MARK' text forming a guilloche border around the entire field. At left, a tall diamond-shaped ornamental vignette encloses the numeral '20' within a radiating star motif. The central panel carries a lightly printed civic vignette in the background, over which the issuer name and a redemption clause are set in bold letterpress. |
| Reverse lettering | Stadt- und Landkreis Gelsenkirchen Dieser Schein wird bei allen Kassen der ausgebenden Behörden eingelöst. Er wird ungültig mit Ablauf der durch amtlichen Aufruf zu bestimmenden Frist. |
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| Comments |
One of hundreds of Notgeld denominations issued by German municipal authorities during the hyperinflation peak of 1923, this Gelsenkirchen 20-million-Mark note reflects the near-weekly denomination escalation that made printing schedules almost impossible to maintain. By mid-1923, municipal issuers in the Ruhr were competing with the Reichsbank itself to keep enough currency in circulation for basic daily transactions — a single tram fare or loaf of bread could require notes of this face value.
Gelsenkirchen's position in the occupied Ruhr, under Franco-Belgian occupation from January 1923, complicated local finance considerably. The passive resistance campaign encouraged by Berlin meant that disrupted commerce required local emergency currency solutions well beyond what the Reichsbank could supply.