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5 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtkasse Pirmasens (City of Pirmasens) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| 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. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in purple and green on cream paper, the reverse is enclosed within a purple geometric border of repeating diamond-and-rule motifs. A central green guilloche underprint panel of interlaced Celtic knotwork and roundel designs forms the background, accented with small red diamond ornaments, while the denomination numerals '5 000 000' are overprinted in large red outline figures across the panel. A central letterpress text block in black carries the statutory anti-counterfeiting penal warning. |
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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.