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50 Mark
| Issuer | Reichs-Schulden-Verwaltung (Imperial Debt Administration) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1874 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Olive-green and orange-brown ground with red overprint and black serial number. The design is composed of three large circular ornamental guilloche medallions arranged across the face, providing the primary decorative framework, with the denomination and series lettering printed within and around the medallion structure. |
| Reverse lettering | Ser. I. Fol. 0 Lit. C. No. 000 000 REICHS-KASSEN-SCHEIN 50 MARK FUNFZIG MARK Ausgef. Wertloss (Translation: Imperial Treasury Note. Fifty Mark. Executed. Worthless.) |
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| Comments |
The Reichs-Schulden-Verwaltung was not a central bank but a debt management office — an unusual choice of issuing authority that reflects the provisional, almost improvised nature of Germany's early post-unification monetary administration. The Reich had no central bank until the Reichsbank was established in 1876, so these Reichskassenscheine were issued through the treasury bureaucracy instead.
Gustav Eilers was one of the principal engravers at the Reichsdruckerei and contributed to several of the early Reich note designs. The printer attribution requires a small caveat: the Reichsdruckerei name wasn't formally adopted until 1879, five years after this note's issue date, when it was still operating under an earlier designation.