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50 000 Mark
| Issuer | Cologne (notgeld), City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Stadt Köln GUTSCHEIN ÜBER Fünfzigtausend Mark Dieser Gutschein wird von allen städtischen und anderen öffentlichen Kassen in Zahlung genommen. Er verliert seine Gültigkeit einen Monat nach Aufkündigung in den Kölner Ortsblättern. Die Stadtgemeinde Köln haftet für die Einlösung. Köln, den 2. Juli 1923. Der Oberbürgermeister: Adenauer (signature) S E R I E E Kölner Verlags-Anstalt und Druckerei A-G (Translation: City of Köln Voucher for Fifty Thousand Marks This voucher shall be accepted by all city and other public cash registers. It will lose its validity one month after announcement in Köln's local papers. The Municipality of Köln is liable for its redemption. Köln, the 2nd of July 1923 Mayor (signature of) Adenauer Series E Köln Publishing House and Printing Company Inc.) |
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| Protection description | The note is printed on watermarked paper. |
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| Comments |
The signature here is the draw. Konrad Adenauer was serving as Mayor of Cologne in 1923 when hyperinflation forced municipalities across Germany to issue their own emergency currency — Notgeld — simply to keep commerce functioning. His signature on this 50,000 Mark note predates his chancellorship by nearly three decades, making it a document of his civic career rather than his federal one.
By the time this note was printed, 50,000 Mark had already become a trivial sum. The Reichsmark reform in November 1923 wiped out the entire series at a conversion rate that rendered most surviving Notgeld worthless before the ink had properly aged.