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5 000 000 000 Mark Lohnscheck
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Mengen (Württemberg) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Size | 166 × 103 mm |
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| Obverse description | Plain cream paper stock with a bold interlocking geometric border running the full perimeter, with decorative lozenge corner pieces. The issuer's name 'Stadtgemeinde Mengen.' is set in Gothic letterpress type at the top, below which the title 'Lohnscheck' appears in large Fraktur script alongside the denomination 'Mk. 5,000,000,000' at upper right and a serial number field 'A No.' at upper left. To the lower left, an embossed circular municipal seal of Mengen bearing the Württemberg coat of arms is applied, with the payment instruction and date 'Mengen, den 31. Oktober 1923' in Gothic type across the centre, signed off by 'Stadtpflege' at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Stadtgemeinde Mengen. A No. Lohnscheck Mk. 5,000,000,000 Die Oberamtssparkasse Saulgau zahle gegen diesen Scheck aus unserem Guthaben Fünf Milliarden Mark. Mengen, den 31. Oktober 1923. Stadtpflege. |
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| Comments |
Mengen is a small town in the Swabian district of Sigmaringen, and like hundreds of German municipalities in the hyperinflation of 1923, it issued its own emergency wage cheques — Lohnschecks — to pay workers when the Reichsbank simply could not print and distribute currency fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. By the time notes in the billion-mark denominations were being issued, a single loaf of bread could cost several hundred million marks, and the five-billion figure here reflects just how brief the useful life of any individual note was.
Württemberg municipal Lohnschecks of this period were typically printed locally on short runs with minimal security features, making surviving examples genuinely uncommon — most were spent within days and disintegrated in circulation.