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5 Rentenmark Rentenbank
| Issuer | Deutsche Rentenbank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Dark brown intaglio printing on a pale ground, with a fine guilloche border framing the entire face. The denomination numeral '5' appears in large Gothic lettering at upper left and right, flanking the title 'Rentenbankschein' at centre top. The body of the note carries a dense block of official text in German Gothic script, concluding with the issuance date 'Berlin, den 1. November 1923', the institution name 'Deutsche Rentenbank', and multiple facsimile signatures of the Verwaltungsrat arranged in two rows across the lower portion. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Uniformly printed in green with an all-over guilloche underprint of great intricacy covering the entire field. A large ornate central medallion encloses the numeral '5' above the two-line legend 'FÜNF RENTENMARK' in bold Gothic type. The title 'RENTENBANKSCHEIN' runs across the upper register and 'FÜNF RENTENMARK' is repeated in a straight line below the medallion. A vertical anti-counterfeiting warning text is printed along the left margin in smaller Gothic script. |
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| Comments |
The Deutsche Rentenbank was conjured into existence by emergency decree on 15 October 1923, at the absolute nadir of the Weimar hyperinflation. The Rentenmark it issued was technically backed by a mortgage lien on all German agricultural and industrial land — a legal fiction, since no one could actually foreclose on an entire national economy, but a psychologically effective one. The currency held. Confidence, it turned out, was the only backing that had ever mattered.
This note was printed by the Reichsdruckerei in Berlin. The Rentenbank itself was a transitional institution, never intended as a permanent central bank, and was gradually superseded by the Reichsbank's own stabilized Reichsmark issues from 1924 onward.