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50 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Kiel (City of Kiel), Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein |
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| Year | 1923 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Printed by letterpress in dark brown on cream laid paper, the obverse is enclosed within a lace-pattern guilloche border with numeral '50' set within circular rosettes at each corner and the word 'MILLIARDEN' running vertically along both lateral margins. The bold Fraktur-script denomination 'Fünfzig Milliarden Mark' occupies the centre field, surmounted by the issuing authority legend and a redemption clause in a smaller typeface. Below, the issue date 'Kiel, den 20. Oktober 1923' appears above the municipal coat of arms of Kiel, flanked by four manuscript signatures of city officials with their respective titles set in letterpress beneath. |
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| Obverse lettering | Notgeld der Stadt Kiel Gegen Einlieferung dieses Scheines zahlt die Stadthauptkasse Kiel Fünfzig Milliarden Mark Kiel, den 20. Oktober 1923. Oberbürgermeister. Bürgermeister. Stadtverordn.-Vorsteher. Stellv. Stadtv.-Vorsteher. Dieser Schein verliert seine Gültigkeit innerhalb eines Monats nach Aufruf. H. O. Persiehl, Hamburg. 50 MILLIARDEN |
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| Comments |
Stadt Kiel issued this note at the absolute peak of the German hyperinflation spiral — by late 1923, municipal and regional authorities across Germany had been issuing their own emergency currency (Notgeld) for years, but the denominations had become grotesque. Fifty billion marks would have been a meaningful wage or a loaf of bread depending on the week it was spent.
H. O. Persiehl in Hamburg was a commercial printer, not a specialist banknote firm, which reflects how completely the crisis had exhausted conventional security printing capacity. Bundesdruckerei and similar houses simply could not keep pace with the demand for new high-denomination paper.