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50 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt- und Landkreis Gelsenkirchen (Prussian Province of Westphalia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Emergency banknote |
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| Obverse description | Typographically composed Notgeld note printed in black on cream paper, with the large bold denomination numeral '50' at centre-top above the letterpress legend 'MILLIONEN MARK' set within a diamond-pattern guilloche band. The series letter 'Reihe A' and serial number appear in red at upper left and upper right respectively, while corner vignettes repeat the denomination '50 MILLIONEN' in decorative cartouches. A diamond-shaped underprint panel at right carries a secondary '50' numeral, and the lower portion of the note carries the issuing authority text, date, and two manuscript signatures beneath the printed titles 'Der Oberbürgermeister' and 'Der Kreisausschuß / Kreisdeputierter'. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Reihe A 50 MILLIONEN MARK NOTGELD für den Stadt- und Landkreis Gelsenkirchen Ausgegeben von dem Stadt- und Landkreise Gelsenkirchen mit Genehmigung des Reichsfinanzministers Gelsenkirchen, den 21. Juli 1923. Der Oberbürgermeister Der Kreisausschuß Kreisdeputierter 50 Millionen Mark (Translation: Notgeld for the City and District of Gelsenkirchen. Issued by the City and District of Gelsenkirchen with the approval of the Reich Finance Minister. Gelsenkirchen, 21 July 1923. The Lord Mayor. The District Committee. District Deputy.) |
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| Comments |
Gelsenkirchen issued this 50-million-mark emergency note at the height of the Weimar hyperinflation, during the Ruhr occupation crisis of 1923 — a period when French and Belgian troops had seized the industrial heartland and Germany responded with a policy of passive resistance that collapsed tax revenue and accelerated the currency's disintegration. Municipal and district authorities across the Ruhr were forced to print their own notgeld simply to meet weekly payrolls, as Reichsbank supply lines could not keep pace with denominations that were obsolete within days of printing.
Local printing on available stock meant quality varied considerably across the series. The 50-million-mark face value, unthinkable two years earlier, was routine by August 1923.