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20 Mark Bayer
| Issuer | Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed Gutschein on cream paper with an elaborate Art Nouveau foliate border enclosing the full face. The issuer's name and place of issue, Leverkusen bei Cöln a. Rhein, appear in roman type below the heading GUTSCHEIN, with the denomination ZWANZIG MARK rendered in large blackletter script at centre. A three-paragraph redemption notice in German occupies the lower half, dated Leverkusen, 7. Oktober 1918, and signed in manuscript by two directors on behalf of Das Direktorium der Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co.; validity is stated as Gültig bis 30. November 1918, with the interlaced FF monogram of Farbenfabriken at bottom centre and the numeral 20 repeated in each corner. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain unprinted reverse on cream paper, cancelled with a large violet rubber-stamp impression reading UNGÜLTIG applied diagonally across the entire surface; a red serial number impression is visible near the upper edge, with traces of adhesive tape at two corners. |
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| Comments |
Bayer's wartime notgeld was not charity — it was payroll necessity. By 1918, the Reichsbank had so thoroughly failed to supply small-denomination currency to industrial employers that major manufacturers across Germany began printing their own. Farbenfabriken Bayer at Leverkusen issued this 20 Mark piece to meet wage obligations at the dye works, which by that point was operating under severe wartime strain while simultaneously producing chemical intermediates for the military.
Carl Duisberg's countersignature carries weight here. As director-general, his name on a factory scrip note underscores just how far monetary dysfunction had reached into industrial management by the Armistice year.