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50 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Waldshut (City of Waldshut) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 000 000 000 Mark (50 000 000 000) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in blue on plain paper and framed by a delicate ornamental rule border with corner flourishes. A large central rectangular vignette renders a panoramic woodcut-style view of Waldshut as it appeared during the siege of 1468, with the walled town, church towers, and surrounding hills at left contrasted against a military encampment of tents and horsemen at right. Above the vignette a caption line identifies the scene, and below it a two-line motto in blackletter script is printed in bold. The printer's imprint appears at the lower right margin. |
| Reverse lettering | Waldshut zur Zeit der Belagerung 1468. Allen Gewalten zum Trotz, Sich erhalten . . . Preßverein Waldshut G. m. b. H. |
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| Comments |
Waldshut's 50-billion-Mark notgeld dates to the most violent phase of the German hyperinflation — by November 1923, a single US dollar was worth over four trillion Marks, and municipal printers across the Reich were struggling to issue denominations that would be obsolete within days. Pressverein Waldshut G.m.b.H. was a local printing cooperative, not a specialist security printer, which is exactly the point: by late 1923, any press with paper and ink was a currency printer.
Waldshut sits on the Rhine opposite the Swiss town of Waldshut-Tiengen's Swiss counterpart, Koblenz AG — a geographical detail that made hard Swiss currency immediately available to locals while their own municipal paper collapsed in real time.