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50 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Mengen (Württemberg) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Size | 152 × 98 mm |
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| Obverse description | Plain cream paper note with a bold black sawtooth-pattern border enclosing an inner single-line frame. The large denomination numeral '50' appears twice in heavy Gothic blackletter type flanking a central oval red letterpress seal of the Württemberg city of Mengen, bearing the municipal arms with a lion and crescent. Below, the denomination 'Milliarden Mark' is set in large Gothic script, with a two-line payment obligation text in smaller blackletter beneath. The date and issuing authority appear at the lower left and right respectively, while the right margin carries a vertical red Gothic inscription reading '50 Milliarden Mark'. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | D No. Mk. 50,000,000,000 50 Milliarden Mark zahlt die Stadtgemeinde Mengen durch die Girokasse der Oberamtssparkasse Saulgau dem Einlieferer dieses Scheines. Mengen, 8. Nov. 1923. Stadtpflege. |
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| Comments |
Mengen was a small market town in Upper Swabia with no particular monetary authority — its issue of 50 billion Mark emergency paper in 1923 was entirely a product of the Reichsbank's inability to supply currency fast enough to meet payroll. Municipalities, businesses, and even private firms across Germany were authorized to print their own Notgeld simply to function. Mengen did what hundreds of other small Württemberg towns did: commissioned local printing and stamped its name on the obligation.
At the note's issue date, 50 billion Mark would buy roughly what a few pfennigs had purchased four years earlier. Within weeks, that figure itself would be obsolete.