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50 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtkasse Speyer (City Treasury of Speyer) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Kreishauptstadt Speyer a/Rh. Notgeld Fünfzig Millionen Mark zahlt die Stadtkasse Speyer dem Einlieferer dieses Scheines Speyer, 21. September 1923. Das Bürgermeisteramt: Der Zeitpunkt, mit dem die Gültigkeit dieses Scheines abläuft, wird öffentlich bekannt gegeben. |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a full-face illustrative vignette executed in a bold pen-and-ink graphic style, occupying almost the entire note area within a dark ruled border. The central scene depicts a group of crowned and robed imperial figures standing on a riverbank, with a small rowing boat in the foreground and the silhouette of a Gothic cathedral city rising in the left background. The denomination "Fünfzig Millionen Mark" is set in large Gothic blackletter at the upper left, and the numeral "50 000 000" rendered in stylised outline figures appears along the lower edge, above a two-line verse quotation in smaller Gothic type. |
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| Comments |
Speyer's municipal treasury was one of hundreds of German local authorities forced into emergency currency production during the hyperinflation peak of 1923, when the Reichsbank could not supply notes fast enough to keep pace with price increases that were, by October of that year, doubling within hours. The 50,000,000 Mark denomination — fifty million — was not extraordinary for its moment; notes of far higher face value were issued within weeks of this one.
Municipal Notgeld at this scale was printed on whatever paper stock local printers had available, and Speyer's issues were produced in-house rather than contracted to a specialist firm. Quality control was not a priority when the ink was barely dry before the note lost purchasing power.