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50 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Magistrat der Stadt Flensburg |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed notgeld in blue on plain white paper, with a decorative border of small repeated ornamental units framing the entire note. The central vignette shows the municipal coat of arms of Flensburg — a heraldic shield with a lion and tower motif — set within a dark rectangular panel flanked on either side by large denomination panels reading '50 MILLIARDEN MARK' in bold Gothic lettering within cloud-shaped cartouches. Below the central vignette, a full-width Gothic-script legend names the denomination in words, followed by a multi-line redemption clause text, the issue date of 24 October 1923, the issuing authority, a serial number box at lower left, an official city stamp at centre, and multiple manuscript signatures at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | NOTGELD DER STADT FLENSBURG 50 MILLIARDEN MARK 50 MILLIARDEN MARK NÖBBE FÜNFZIG MILLIARDEN MARK Dieser Notgeldschein wird ungültig / wenn er nicht innerhalb der Frist / die vom Magistrat bekannt gemacht wird / zur Einlösung an einer der im Aufruf genannten Stellen vorgelegt ist - Flensburg / den 24. Okt. 1923 - Magistrat-Stadtverordneten-Kollegium No. 030480 Aug. Westphalen, Flensburg |
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| Comments |
Flensburg's municipal authority issued this fifty-billion Mark note in the autumn of 1923, when Germany's hyperinflation had rendered Reichsbank supply wholly inadequate for daily commerce. Cities, counties, and private firms were legally permitted — and practically forced — to print their own emergency currency, the so-called Notgeld. By October 1923 a single loaf of bread cost several billion marks, which meant this denomination, enormous by any earlier reckoning, represented modest purchasing power at the moment of issue.
Printing locally through Aug. Westphalen kept turnaround times short, a real operational necessity when denominations became obsolete within days of printing.