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5 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Pirmasens (City of Pirmasens) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Pale green guilloche underprint on white paper, enclosed within a decorative scalloped border. The heading reads "Notgeldschein der Stadtgemeinde Pirmasens" in bold blackletter script, with the denomination "Fünf Milliarden Mark" in large Gothic typeface occupying the centre. A five-paragraph legal text below the denomination states the liability of the municipality and conditions of acceptance by Reichsbank cashiers, with the issuing authority "Bürgermeisteramt" and date "Pirmasens, 15. Oktober 1923" at the foot, accompanied by two manuscript signatures and a serial number at lower right. A vertical overprint at left margin reads "Umlauffähig im ganzen Regierungsbezirk Pfalz / Gültig bis zum 1. April 1924". |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Notgeldschein der Stadtgemeinde Pirmasens Fünf Milliarden Mark Für diesen Notgeldschein haftet das gesamte Vermögen der Stadtgemeinde. Derselbe wird von sämtlichen Kassen der Reichsbank in Zahlung genommen. Dieser Notgeldschein wird ungültig, wenn er nicht innerhalb eines Monats nach erfolgter Bekanntgabe bei den öffentlichen Einzugsstellen eingereicht wird. Bürgermeisteramt: Pirmasens, 15. Oktober 1923 Umlauffähig im ganzen Regierungsbezirk Pfalz Gültig bis zum 1. April 1924 |
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| Comments |
Pirmasens was a shoe-manufacturing town in the Palatinate, and its municipal government issued this five-billion-mark note during the hyperinflation peak of autumn 1923 — the period when the Reichsbank's own printing operation could no longer keep pace with denomination demands and hundreds of German municipalities, districts, and private companies issued their own emergency currency, known collectively as Notgeld. By this point the billion-mark threshold had become almost meaningless; the Rentenmark reform of November 1923 would soon sweep the entire inflated structure away at a conversion rate of one trillion old marks to one new unit.
Municipal issues of this denomination were typically printed locally on whatever stock was available, which is why paper quality and print registration vary sharply even within a single series.