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50 000 000 000 Mark Reichsbanknote, small issue
| Issuer | Reichsbank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Typographically printed note on an orange and green guilloche underprint, with large gothic-script denomination 'FÜNFZIG MILLIARDEN MARK' occupying the central field. The heading 'REICHSBANKNOTE' appears at the top left alongside the alphanumeric series designation and a red serial number. Two circular Reichsbank eagle seals flank the lower portion, above which eleven facsimile signatures of the Reichsbankdirektorium are arranged in two rows. A text block in German script confirms payment terms and the issue date of 10 October 1923, Berlin, with anti-counterfeiting warnings printed vertically in the left and right margins. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted and presents the note's verso as a plain off-white paper surface, through which the obverse design shows as a mirror-image impression. The watermarked paper substrate is visible, with the obverse orange and green guilloche pattern and lettering faintly visible in show-through. |
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| Comments |
By the time this note was authorized in late 1923, the Reichsmark's collapse had long since passed the point of absurdity — fifty billion marks would not have bought a loaf of bread in October of that year. The "small issue" designation distinguishes it from the larger-format notes of the same denomination issued concurrently, a bureaucratic response to paper shortages at the Reichsdruckerei as demand for high-denomination notes outpaced production capacity.
The Rentenmark stabilization arrived on 15 November 1923, at which point this entire series became worthless almost overnight. Most were discarded or burned for heat, which is the primary reason survivors exist more often in collector hands than in institutional archives.