Catalog
50 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Kreisausschuss Hofgeismar (District Committee of Hofgeismar) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Kreis Hofgeismar. Gut für 50 Milliarden Mark Nr 032079 Einzulösen bei der Kreissparkasse Hofgeismar. Hofgeismar, 11. Aug. 1923. Der Kreisausschuß: AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT FÜR DRUCK UND VERLAG VORM. GEB. DÖTTNER, CASSEL |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a detailed woodcut-style vignette in purple ink presenting a panoramic townscape of Weebenstein (Wabern or the historic Weebenstein locality), with a hilltop castle ruin dominating the upper left and a walled medieval town with church steeples spread across the centre and right. The scene is rendered in a fine engraved line technique evocative of early modern topographic prints, with rolling hills and a river valley in the foreground. The place name 'Weebenstein' is inscribed in italic script at the upper centre of the vignette. |
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| Comments |
Hofgeismar was a small district in the Prussian province of Hessen-Nassau, and like hundreds of German municipalities in late 1923, its Kreisausschuss was forced into the absurd position of issuing its own emergency currency — Notgeld — denominated in figures that had become meaningless almost as soon as the ink dried. Fifty billion Mark was not an unusual face value for October–November 1923; notes of this denomination were sometimes worth less than a loaf of bread by the day after issue.
The printer, Aktiengesellschaft für Druck und Verlag (formerly Ger. Döttner) in Kassel, handled inflation Notgeld for multiple Hessian issuers during this period, which accounts for the family resemblance seen across several district issues from the region.