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50 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Köln (City of Cologne) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Orange and red letterpress note with elaborate guilloche side panels bearing the denomination text 'FÜNFZIG MILLIONEN MARK' in vertical orientation. The central field carries the issuer title 'Gutschein der Stadt Köln' at the top in Gothic script, followed by the large denomination 'Fünfzig Millionen Mark' in bold blackletter type over a lightly printed vignette of Cologne Cathedral. Below, a text block states the note's legal tender conditions, dated 'Köln den 15. August 1923', with a circular red city seal to the lower left and the facsimile signature of the Oberbürgermeister (Konrad Adenauer) to the lower right; series letter 'Reihe A' appears at the upper left. |
|---|---|
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| Signature(s) | Konrad Adenauer (Oberbürgermeister) |
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| Comments |
Cologne issued this note under the signature of Konrad Adenauer, then serving as Oberbürgermeister — a post he held from 1917 to 1933. During the hyperinflation of 1923, German municipalities were legally permitted to issue their own emergency currency, Notgeld, to compensate for the Reich's failure to supply adequate circulating money. By August of that year, the 50-million-Mark denomination had become routine, not remarkable.
M. Dumont Schauberg was a major Cologne commercial printer, not a security printing house — the pressures of 1923 left little room for selecting specialist printers.