Issued at the height of the German hyperinflation of 1923, this Fifty Million Mark note was produced by the Kreissparkasse Neuwied under authority of the Kreisausschuss — the district committee — of the Neuwied administrative district. Like hundreds of similar municipal and savings-bank issues that year, it exists because the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. District-level institutions were formally permitted to issue emergency currency, known as Notgeld, to plug the gap.
By the time denominations reached the tens of millions, notes like this one had a useful circulation life measured in days before the face value became inadequate.
Issued at the height of the German hyperinflation of 1923, this Fifty Million Mark note was produced by the Kreissparkasse Neuwied under authority of the Kreisausschuss — the district committee — of the Neuwied administrative district. Like hundreds of similar municipal and savings-bank issues that year, it exists because the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. District-level institutions were formally permitted to issue emergency currency, known as Notgeld, to plug the gap.
By the time denominations reached the tens of millions, notes like this one had a useful circulation life measured in days before the face value became inadequate.