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5 000 000 Mark Handelskammer
| Issuer | Handelskammer Aachen (Chamber of Commerce Aachen) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Reference(s) | Merkelb.1#21-22 |
| Obverse description | Brown on buff paper, with an ornate letterpress border of interlocking guilloche patterns enclosing the main text field. At upper centre, the issuer's name 'Handelskammer Aachen' appears in Gothic script above the denomination 'Fünf Millionen Mark' in large blackletter type, with the numeral '5000000' as an underprint. To the right, a separate vignette panel bears an engraved portrait bust of David Hansemann in three-quarter view, captioned 'DAVID HANSEMANN', with the words 'Fünf Millionen Mark' in Gothic lettering framing the portrait. At lower left, a circular embossed seal of the Handelskammer zu Aachen is present, alongside two manuscript signatures and the issue date 'Aachen, den 18. August 1923'. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | No reverse image provided; the reverse design of this Notgeld issue is not described. |
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| Comments |
The Handelskammer Aachen was among hundreds of German regional and municipal bodies that issued emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation spiral of 1923, when the Reichsmark's collapse made official denominations functionally useless within days of printing. By mid-1923, denominations in the millions were not exceptional; they were routine necessity. Aug. Heinrigs was a local Aachen printer pressed into monetary service alongside commercial printers across the Rhineland.
The Rhineland occupation by French and Belgian forces following the Ruhr invasion in January 1923 complicated Aachen's economic situation further, severing supply chains and accelerating local monetary chaos beyond even the national rate.