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5 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Passau (City of Passau) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 120 × 79 mm |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black on light blue-tinted paper with a delicate floral underprint, enclosed within an ornate letterpress border of interlocking heart and scroll motifs. The denomination "5.000.000.000.- Mk." appears in the upper right, with a serial number box at the upper left; the central legend in Gothic blackletter script reads "Fünf Milliarden Mark" below the Gutschein heading. Two small heraldic lion shields of the city of Passau flank the redemption text, and the note is dated Passau, den 25. Oktober 1923, with two manuscript signatures and official titles at the foot, above the printer's imprint. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely unprinted, presenting a plain cream-coloured paper surface with a faint grid-like texture visible across the sheet, typical of the plain backs found on many German Notgeld emergency issues of the hyperinflationary period of 1923. |
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| Comments |
Passau's municipal administration issued this note during the peak inflationary weeks of late 1923, when the Reichsbank's own supply chain had completely collapsed under the volume of emergency currency requests. Local authorities across Bavaria were left to contract with whatever printers were at hand — Ablassmayer & Penninger, a Passau-based commercial printer with no specialist banknote background, was one of thousands of firms pressed into producing Notgeld at denominations that would have been unimaginable eighteen months earlier.
Five billion marks. By November 1923, that sum would barely cover a loaf of bread.