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200 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtkasse Giengen an der Brenz |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Blue-grey letterpress note with a fine dashed border frame. The upper portion carries the issuing authority and denomination in bold Gothic script, flanked by numeral "200" at left and right, with a serial number and validity clause in smaller type; two manuscript signatures appear below the date line of 25 October 1923, accompanied by a circular violet official stamp of the Stadtkasse. The lower register presents a wide panoramic vignette of the Giengen an der Brenz townscape with church towers and rooftops, while a circular cartouche at lower right bears the civic arms showing a rearing unicorn within an oak-leaf wreath. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Stadt Giengen a. Brenz Zweihundert Milliarden Mark zahlt die Stadtkasse Giengen a. Brenz dem Einlieferer dieses Scheines. Gültig bis 31. März 1924. Verlängerung oder früherer Aufruf zur Einlösung vorbehalten. Giengen a. Brenz, den 25. Oktober 1923. Stadtschultheiss: Stadtpfleger: G. Schmid, Buchdr., Giengen a. Br. |
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| Comments |
Giengen an der Brenz is a small Swabian town best known today as the birthplace of the Steiff teddy bear. In 1923 it was, like hundreds of German municipalities, printing its own emergency currency — Notgeld — because the Reichsbank simply could not produce denominated notes fast enough to keep pace with hyperinflation. By November of that year, a single US dollar was worth over four trillion marks.
The Stadtkasse (municipal treasury) contracted G. Schmid, a local print shop, to produce this 200-billion-mark note. That figure is not a typo — Zweihundert Milliarden. Issued and rendered worthless within weeks.