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 Reichsbanknote
| Issuer | Reichsbankdirektorium |
|---|---|
| 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 | Unadorned typographic design printed in dark brown on a light guilloche underprint, with the denomination "Fünf Milliarden Mark" rendered in large blackletter (Fraktur) script across the centre. The upper portion carries the title "Reichsbanknote" flanked by an alphanumeric prefix and a red serial number at top right, while a central octagonal guilloche vignette bears the latent text "FÜNF MILLIARDEN". Two circular Reichsbankdirektorium eagle seals are placed at lower left and right, flanking twelve facsimile signatures of the board members, with the date "Berlin, den 20. Oktober 1923" and the issuing authority "REICHSBANKDIREKTORIUM" printed below the denomination text. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted and blank, showing only the show-through of the obverse design in mirror image through the thin paper stock, with no independent design elements, vignettes, or lettering of its own. |
| 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 |
Five billion marks — issued September 1923, when Weimar hyperinflation had so thoroughly collapsed the currency that this denomination was obsolete almost before the ink dried. The Reichsbank was printing notes faster than they could be transported to banks; at the peak, Germany had over thirty paper mills and nearly a hundred printing firms working simultaneously to meet demand.
The September 1923 series was superseded within weeks by even larger denominations. By November, a single US dollar exchanged for roughly 4.2 trillion marks, which made this note worth a fraction of a cent in real terms.