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5 000 000 000 000 Mark Reichsbahndirektion
| Issuer | Reichsbahndirektion Stuttgart |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 144 × 79 mm |
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| Obverse description | Printed in green on white paper, the note is enclosed within a decorative foliate border and bears a central spread-winged eagle vignette set against a radiating sunburst underprint. The series designation 'Reihe 1.' appears to the left of the eagle with a typeset serial number to the right, while the denomination 'Fünf Billionen Mark' is rendered in bold Gothic blackletter script across the centre. A four-line redemption text referencing the Eisenbahnhauptkasse Stuttgart appears below, with the issue date 'Stuttgart, den 9. November 1923' and the manuscript signature of the Präsident at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is dominated by a large landscape vignette printed in green, centred on a steam locomotive crossing a tall multi-span railway viaduct with stone piers, smoke billowing against a hatched sky. Below the viaduct a tram is visible on the road, with trees and town buildings framing the scene, and an artist's monogram at the lower right corner. The denomination '5 Billionen' is inscribed in Gothic script at the upper left. |
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The Reichsbahndirektion Stuttgart was one of the regional railway directorates that resorted to issuing its own emergency currency during the hyperinflation peak of late 1923, when the Reichsbank simply could not print and distribute notes fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. Railway administrations, municipal governments, and private firms all filled the gap with Notgeld — not as a novelty, as had been the case with the collector-oriented issues of 1920–21, but out of operational necessity. Workers needed to be paid, and the wage had to be denominated in something.
Five trillion marks. By November 1923, that sum would barely cover a loaf of bread.