Catalog
5 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Danzig, City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is executed entirely in letterpress typography, presenting the denomination and issuing authority text in German language within a structured layout characteristic of German hyperinflationary emergency currency. A fine guilloche underprint covers the note field, serving as the primary security element against a plain paper ground. The overall design reflects the austerity of notgeld-era production, with no pictorial vignette. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Guilloche underprint |
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| Comments |
Danzig's 1923 hyperinflation issues came fast and often absurd in denomination — five million marks was a practical spending note, not a collector's curiosity, at the height of the crisis. The Free City operated its own monetary system under League of Nations oversight, which meant issuing emergency currency independent of both German Reichsbank policy and Polish authority, a bureaucratic tightrope that produced a remarkably busy series of municipal notes across that single year.
The guilloche underprint was a minimal concession to counterfeiting deterrence at a moment when the presses were running too hard to worry much about security.