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50 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Heilbronn (City of Heilbronn) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 000 000 Marks (50 000 000) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Purple letterpress note with a winged vignette at top centre and a silhouette of Heilbronn's skyline along the lower border. The denomination 'Fünfzig Millionen Mark' is set in large Gothic script across the centre, with a red serial number printed vertically at left. Two manuscript signatures appear at the foot beneath the titles Oberbürgermeister and Stadtpfleger. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Notgeldschein der Stadtgemeinde Heilbronn a.N Fünfzig Millionen Mark zahlt die Stadtkasse Heilbronn dem Einlieferer gegen diesen Kassenschein. Heilbronn a.N., 15. Aug. 1923 Oberbürgermeister: Stadtpfleger: (Translation: Emergency banknote from the Municipality of Heilbronn on the Neckar Fifty Million Mark The Heilbronn city treasury pays the consignor against this receipt. Heilbronn on the Neckar, August 15, 1923 Mayor: City Clerk:) |
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| Comments |
Heilbronn's 50-million Mark note dates to the peak of the German hyperinflation — by the time notes of this denomination were being issued by municipal authorities in late 1923, the Reichsbank had effectively lost control of the money supply and hundreds of cities, towns, and private firms were printing their own emergency currency (Notgeld) simply to make payroll. Carl Rembold & Sohn was a local printing firm, not a specialist banknote printer, which is typical of the municipal issues from this period.
The sheer face value is the point of interest here. Germany's inflation accelerated so rapidly that a 50-million Mark note, extraordinary by any peacetime measure, would have bought little more than a few loaves of bread at the moment of issue.