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50 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Mainz (City of Mainz) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black and red on cream paper. At left, a circular vignette presents a standing armored knight identified by the legend 'ARNOLD WALPODO' encircling the medallion, with the red Mainz wheel coat of arms at his feet; a small circular city seal appears at upper left. The denomination 'FÜNFZIG MILLIARDEN M' is rendered in large decorative letterpress type at right, with alternating black and red elements, beneath the issuer title 'NOTGELD DER STADT MAINZ' across the top. The date 'MAINZ den 8. Oktober 1923', a handwritten signature above the titles 'Der Oberbürgermeister' and 'Bürgermeister', the numeral denomination '50 000 000 000 M', and a serial number appear in the lower right quadrant, with validity and legal text in a left side panel. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | NOTGELD DER STADT MAINZ ARNOLD WALPODO FÜNFZIG MILLIARDEN M MAINZ den 8. Oktober 1923 Der Oberbürgermeister Bürgermeister 50 000 000 000 M Umlaufsfähig im ganzen besetzten hessischen Gebiet Gültig bis zum 1. April 1924 Wird von allen städtischen Kassen in Zahlung genommen und durch ortsübliche Bekanntmachung zur Einlösung aufgerufen. Wer Notgeld nachmacht oder verfälscht oder nachgemachtes oder verfälschtes sich verschafft und in Verkehr bringt, wird mit Zuchthaus nicht unter zwei Jahren bestraft. |
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| Comments |
Mainz issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — because the Reichsbank simply could not print and distribute notes fast enough to keep pace with hyperinflation during late 1923. By November of that year, before the Rentenmark stabilization ended the crisis, municipal and commercial issuers across Germany were producing denominations that had been unimaginable months earlier. A fifty-billion-mark note from a city treasury is not unusual for the period; what it documents is the administrative absurdity of a functioning municipality having to run its own currency operation.
Printed locally in Mainz, which was then under French occupation following the Treaty of Versailles — a detail that made local money issuance both practically necessary and politically loaded.