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500 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Kreishauptstadt Speyer (City of Speyer) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 000 000 000 Mark (500 000 000 000) |
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| Obverse description | The face bears a rectangular guilloche border enclosing the central text. At the top, the issuing authority inscription reads 'KREISHAUPTSTADT SPEYER a/RH. NOTGELD', followed by the denomination 'Fünfhundert MILLIARDEN MARK' in bold Gothic letterpress. Below, a bearer clause states 'zahlt die Stadtkasse Speyer dem Einlieferer dieses Scheines', with the place and date of issue 'Speyer den 1. November 1923' accompanied by a printed serial number in red. The note is completed by a manuscript signature of the Bürgermeisteramt official, with a vertical red overprint along the left margin noting the validity period, and the denomination '500 MILLIARDEN MARK' printed vertically along the right margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | KREISHAUPTSTADT SPEYER a/RH. NOTGELD Fünfhundert MILLIARDEN MARK zahlt die Stadtkasse Speyer dem Einlieferer dieses Scheines Speyer den 1. November 1923 Das Bürgermeisteramt: 500 MILLIARDEN MARK |
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| Comments |
By late 1923, German municipal authorities were printing their own emergency currency — Notgeld — because the Reichsbank simply could not supply denominations fast enough to keep pace with hyperinflation. Speyer's half-trillion Mark note belongs to that final, almost absurd phase, when the numbers had outrun any practical meaning. A loaf of bread in November 1923 cost roughly 200 billion Marks; a 500 billion note barely covered two loaves.
Local printing in Speyer kept turnaround fast but quality inconsistent across the series. The Rentenmark reform of November 15, 1923 rendered these notes worthless within weeks of issue.