Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Marktgemeinde Berchtesgaden (Market Town of Berchtesgaden) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 000 000 000 Mark (5 000 000 000) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Firm smooth white paper with a light green underprint. The denomination and text are rendered in dark blue letterpress, with the issuer name at top and the voucher text below. A four-digit serial number is printed in black screen-dot raster, a violet ink stamp appears at centre-left, and the note has been cancelled by two circular punch perforations at upper left and upper right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Unprinted plain white paper; uniface note with no design or lettering on the reverse. The show-through of the obverse printing and the arc-cross watermark pattern (Keller#174) are visible when held to light. Two circular cancellation punch-holes are visible at upper left and upper right, corresponding to those on the obverse. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Berchtesgaden's five-billion-mark note is a product of the most acute phase of German hyperinflation — late 1923, when municipal and commercial entities across Germany were legally empowered to issue emergency currency (Notgeld) because the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to meet daily transactional demand. A market town in the Bavarian Alps had no business issuing paper money under any normal monetary order, yet here it is.
The watermarked paper is notable — most late-stage inflation Notgeld dispensed with security features entirely as a cost and time-saving measure. That this issue retains a watermark suggests either pre-existing paper stock or a printer with the foresight to maintain minimal standards when denominations had already become absurd.