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5 000 000 000 Mark Handelskammer
| Issuer | Handelskammer zu Cassel |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Size | 145 × 84 mm |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress text over a teal guilloche underprint of repeating geometric floral motifs covers the entire field. The issuer's name in Fraktur script appears at the top, followed by the denomination "Fünf Milliarden Mark" in large bold Gothic lettering at centre. The date, issuing authority, and two manuscript signatures appear in the lower portion, with the printer's imprint "H. Grünbaum, Cassel" at the foot; a black ornamental border frames the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Handelskammer zu Cassel Gut für Fünf Milliarden Mark Cassel, den 22. Oktober 1923 Die Handelskammer |
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| Comments |
Cassel's Chamber of Commerce resorted to its own emergency currency in 1923 because the Reichsbank simply could not print and distribute legal tender fast enough to keep pace with hyperinflation. By the time this five-billion-mark note was issued, the denomination had ceased to carry any meaningful purchasing power within weeks of printing — the collapse from millions to billions to trillions in Weimar notgeld happened across a matter of months in 1923.
H. Grünbaum was a local Cassel printer, not a specialist banknote house, which shows in the production. The Handelskammer notes were a functional stopgap, not a prestige issue.