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5 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | City of Bonn (Prussian province of Rhine) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 145 × 75 mm |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | REIHE M Gutschein über Fünf Milliarden Mark, gedeckt durch Hinterlegung von Reichsschatzanweisungen. Er wird von allen öffentlichen Kassen des nebenstehenden Regierungsbezirks in Zahlung genommen. Bonn, den 15. Oktober 1923 Der Oberbürgermeister I.V. Die Handelskammer Bonn RHENANIA-DRUCKEREI BONN |
| Reverse description | Printed in grey-blue on a fine engine-turned guilloche ground, the reverse is centred on a large heraldic vignette of the Bonn municipal coat of arms — a quartered shield with a lion passant, enclosed within an elaborate acanthus-scroll cartouche. The denomination 'Fünf Milliarden' is inscribed in large Gothic lettering above the arms, and the numeral value '5 000 000 000' in spaced figures flanks the lower portion of the cartouche. The city name 'Bonn' in bold Gothic script appears below the vignette. |
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| Comments |
Bonn's five-billion-mark note dates from the final, most vertiginous phase of Weimar hyperinflation, when municipal and regional authorities across Germany were legally empowered to issue emergency currency — Notgeld — because the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to meet demand. By late 1923, the exchange rate had collapsed so completely that denominations like this one were obsolete within days of printing.
Rhenania-Druckerei was a local Bonn press, not a specialist banknote printer. The technical limitations show in these issues — lithographic rather than intaglio work, minimal security features. Speed mattered; quality did not.