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 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Pforzheim (City of Pforzheim) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 000 000 Mark (5 000 000) |
| 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 | Green guilloche border frames the note throughout. At centre, the arms of Pforzheim are rendered within an ornate cartouche flanked by scrollwork, above the bold letterpress denomination FÜNF MILLIONEN MARK. The upper field carries the Notgeld inscription DER STADT PFORZHEIM with the value 5 MILLIONEN at each corner, while the lower panel bears the large numeral 5.000.000MK over a vignette of a standing figure. The serial number in red and the manuscript signature of the Oberbürgermeister appear in the lower right, dated Pforzheim, den 21. August 1923. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 5 MILLIONEN MILLIONEN 5 5.000.000MK FÜNF MILLIONEN MARK 5.000.000 Wer Kassenscheine nachmacht oder verfälscht, oder nachgemachte oder verfälschte sich verschafft u. in Verkehr bringt, wird mit Zuchthaus nicht unter zwei Jahren bestraft. |
| 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 |
Pforzheim issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — like hundreds of German municipalities scrambling to fill the void left by Reichsbank notes that became worthless faster than they could be printed. By mid-1923, the hyperinflation had progressed to the point where denominations in the millions were functionally small change; a 5,000,000 Mark note from this period would have bought little more than a loaf of bread, if that.
Municipal issues like this were produced locally, often by whatever printer had paper and ink available. Pforzheim, a city built on the jewelry and watchmaking trades, had the industrial infrastructure to manage local print runs without outside contracting.