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5 000 000 Mark Landesbank der Provinz Westfalen
| Issuer | Landesbank der Provinz Westfalen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Cream-toned Notgeld issue printed in black letterpress with a red ornamental initial and denomination vignette in the Gothic blackletter script throughout. The centre carries the denomination "Fünf Millionen Mark" in large red Gothic type with an elaborate decorative initial, beneath which the payment clause and issuing authority are set out in black. A serial number appears vertically along the left margin, with validity and redemption conditions printed in a side column at right. Three manuscript signatures of the Direktion appear along the lower edge above the full institutional title. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | Fünf Millionen Mark |
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| Comments |
The Landesbank der Provinz Westfalen issued this note during the catastrophic hyperinflation of 1923, when German regional and municipal authorities were legally permitted — and practically forced — to issue their own emergency currency, known as Notgeld, to meet payroll and basic commercial needs. By mid-1923, the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough, and provincial banks stepped in to fill the gap.
Five million marks sounds extraordinary, but by autumn 1923 it barely covered a loaf of bread. The watermark is one of the few security concessions made at this denomination — by late in the crisis, many comparable emergency issues dispensed with such features entirely.