Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 000 000 Mark Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-Aktien-Gesellschaft
| Issuer | Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-Aktien-Gesellschaft |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 000 000 Mark (50 000 000) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Stiff beige stock with magenta letterpress typography over a guilloche underprint. The face bears the issuer's full corporate name, the denomination in words (Fünfzig Millionen Mark), and a promise-to-pay clause, all in black typeface, with a five-digit serial number in black flanked by an asterisk to the right and a prefix numeral to the left. The date of issue, 30 August 1923, and place of issue, Gelsenkirchen, appear in the lower portion of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | White stock with magenta letterpress printing over a fine wavy-line guilloche underprint extending across the entire surface within a rectangular border. A central vignette in a ruled frame presents a miner at work with mining equipment, reflecting the issuer's industrial identity. The denomination '50 MILLIONEN MARK' is repeated in large numerals and text along the left and right vertical margins as well as horizontally across the centre. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG was one of the largest coal and steel conglomerates in the Ruhr, and like dozens of major industrial firms in 1923, it issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — when hyperinflation rendered Reichsbank notes functionally useless before they could even be distributed. Company scrip of this kind was not charity; firms needed to pay weekly wages in denominations that matched actual purchasing power, and that figure was escalating daily.
The 50-million mark face value dates this note to the late summer or early autumn of 1923, the period when denominations were climbing toward the billions. By November, the entire mark currency was abolished and replaced by the Rentenmark at 1 trillion to one.