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50 000 000 Mark Bad Orb
| Issuer | Stadthauptkasse Bad Orb (City of Bad Orb) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Plain letterpress-printed notgeld coupon on cream paper, with the issuing authority text and redemption conditions set in roman and blackletter type across the left and centre of the note. The municipal coat of arms of Bad Orb is printed in the upper right corner. The denomination and date of issue are integrated into the body text. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
Bad Orb is a small spa town in the Spessart region of Hesse, and like hundreds of German municipalities in 1923, it issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — as the Reichsmark collapsed under hyperinflation. By the time denominations reached fifty million Mark, the inflation had already rendered notes obsolete within days of printing. The Stadthauptkasse was effectively racing the exchange rate.
Printed locally by Johann Göb, a small-town commercial press rather than a specialist securities printer, the presence of a watermark is worth noting — an unusual security precaution at this denomination and from a printer of this scale, suggesting either pre-watermarked paper stock purchased in bulk or a deliberate effort to discourage forgery even as the notes' real value evaporated hourly.