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| Issuer | Stadtkasse Pirmasens (City of Pirmasens) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Value | 5 000 000 Mark (5 000 000) |
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| Obverse description | Typeset Notgeld voucher printed in purple and red on cream paper within an ornate guilloche border of interlaced foliate scrollwork with red corner ornaments. The denomination 'Fünf Millionen Mark' is set in large blackletter (Fraktur) type at centre, above two lines of letterpress text stating the payment obligation of the Stadtkasse Pirmasens valid until 1 October 1923. The issue date 'Pirmasens, 15. Aug. 1923' and the authority inscription 'Das Bürgermeisteramt:' appear at lower centre, flanked by two manuscript signatures and a circular red municipal seal of Pirmasens. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | WER GUTSCHEINE NACHMACHT ODER VERFÄLSCHT, ODER NACHGEMACHTE ODER VERFÄLSCHTE SICH VERSCHAFFT UND IN VERKEHR BRINGT, WIRD MIT ZUCHTHAUS NICHT UNTER ZWEI JAHREN BESTRAFT. |
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| Comments |
Pirmasens in the Palatinate was Germany's shoe-manufacturing capital, and its municipal treasury issued this five-million mark note at the absolute peak of the 1923 hyperinflation — a period when denominations escalated so rapidly that notes became obsolete within days of printing. Municipal and regional authorities across Germany were legally permitted to issue their own emergency currency, Notgeld, precisely because the Reichsbank could not physically print fast enough to meet demand.
The DeNG reference places this within a well-documented Pirmasens series, but the five-million mark face value marks it as a late-phase issue, printed when that sum was already approaching worthlessness on arrival.