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20 000 000 Mark Birkenfelder Landesbank
| Issuer | Bank für das Nahetal A.-G. (Birkenfelder Landesbank) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 000 000 Mark (20 000 000) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Uniface letterpress note printed on firm, smooth white paper with all text and numerals rendered in grey ink. The denomination '20 000 000 Mark' is set in large Gothic script across the centre, above the written-out amount 'Zwanzig Millionen', with a block of conditions text below in smaller type. A serial number and prefix appear in black at upper right, while a horizontal oval dry-stamp embossed seal of the Bank für das Nahetal A.-G. (Birkenfelder Landesbank) is impressed at lower right. An autograph manuscript signature in blue-green ink occupies the lower centre, with the issuer's name and 'Kontrolle: Kassierer' designation flanking it. |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | No watermark or security features present. |
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| Comments |
The Birkenfelder Landesbank was a regional institution serving the former Principality of Birkenfeld, a Prussian exclave embedded within the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg — a geographical anomaly that persisted into the Weimar period. By mid-1923, German hyperinflation had reached the point where municipal and regional banks were authorised under emergency notgeld provisions to issue their own high-denomination notes to keep commerce functional. Twenty million marks was not an absurd sum by August 1923 standards; within weeks it would be.
The watermarked paper distinguishes this from the purely utilitarian emergency issues of smaller municipalities that used whatever stock was available.