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50 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtkasse Speyer (City Treasury of Speyer) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Tan paper note with an elaborate geometric guilloche border of interlocking star and diamond motifs enclosing the entire face. The issuer title "Kreishauptstadt Speyer a/Rh." and the word "Notgeld" appear at the top in Gothic blackletter script, above the large denomination legend "Fünfzig Millionen Mark" in bold Fraktur. Below, a text line in smaller Gothic type reads the payment obligation clause, followed by the date "Speyer, 21. September 1923" and a red serial number, with the notation "Das Bürgermeisteramt:" above three manuscript signatures. At the foot, a validity disclaimer clause is printed in smaller type. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | Fünfzig Millionen Mark 50 000 000 "Er hält in den Händen das lohnende Geld Drauf glühen aus alter Zeit und Welt / Viel stolze Kaiserbilder." |
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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.