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5 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Gemeinde Steinen (Municipality of Steinen, Baden) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Green letterpress on pale pink paper with a fine guilloche underprint. The note is framed by a decorative chain border with Art Nouveau fan motifs at the left margin; the denomination 'Fünf Milliarden Mark' is set in large Fraktur blackletter at centre. Lit. B series letter appears at upper left, with serial number and an asterisk ornament at lower centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Die Gemeinde Steinen zahlt dem Einlieferer dieses Gutscheines Fünf Milliarden Mark Gültig bis zum Aufruf im "Oberbad. Volksblatt" Steinen, den 26. Oktober 1923 Der Gemeinderat: Einlösungsstelle ist die Gemeindekasse Lit. B Gg. Uehlin in Schopfheim (Translation: The municipality of Steinen pays the depositor of this voucher Five Billion Marks Valid until called in the "Upper Baden People's Paper" Steinen, October 26, 1923 The Municipal Council: The redemption office is the municipal treasury Lit. B Gg. Uehlin in Schopfheim) |
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| Comments |
Steinen is a small municipality in the Wiesental valley of Baden, and its decision to issue notgeld at this denomination — five billion marks — dates it precisely to the hyperinflationary peak of late 1923, when the Reichsmark was collapsing fast enough that municipal authorities across Germany were printing their own emergency currency simply to make payroll. Gg. Uehlin was a local Schopfheim printer, not a specialist currency firm, and the physical note reflects that: a jobbing commercial press pressed into monetary service.
The denomination itself tells the story. By November 1923, five billion marks would not have bought a newspaper.