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50 000 000 000 Mark Reichsbahndirektion
| Issuer | Reichsbahndirektion Elberfeld |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Plain cream paper stock with text-only layout in blue letterpress. The issuer's name 'Reichsbahndirektion Elberfeld.' is set at the top in roman type, below which the denomination '50 Milliarden Mark' appears in a large Gothic blackletter script. The lower portion carries the series designation 'Serie D', the word 'Gutschein', a serial number, and a multi-line legal text in small Gothic type confirming acceptance at all railway cashiers of the Elberfeld directorate district, followed by the date 'Elberfeld, den 24. Oktober 1923.' and three manuscript signatures above the imprint 'Nachahmung strafbar.' |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | Woven Bands (Bandwerk) |
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| Comments |
Reichsbahndirektion Elberfeld was one of several regional German railway directorate offices that issued emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation of 1923, when the Reichsmark was collapsing so rapidly that state institutions couldn't wait for the Reichsbank to supply adequate denominations. Railway directorates had both the administrative infrastructure and, crucially, the captive workforce to justify issuing wage-payment scrip. The fifty billion mark figure dates this note to late October or November 1923, the terminal phase of the inflation, when the dollar was trading at over four trillion marks.
The Elberfeld directorate covered the industrial Wuppertal region, and its notes circulated primarily among railway employees as wage supplements. Survival rates are reasonable — these weren't redeemed and destroyed with the same urgency as bank-issued notes after the Rentenmark stabilization in November 1923.