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500 000 000 000 Mark Reichsbahndirektion
| Issuer | Reichsbahndirektion Frankfurt am Main |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Plain typeset note with text-only layout on a light ground. The central inscription reads 'REICHSBAHNDIREKTION FRANKFURT AM MAIN' above the denomination legend 'FÜNFHUNDERT MILLIARDEN MARK', rendered in bold Gothic letterpress typeface. The note bears the issuing authority's title and the Gutschein (voucher) designation, with the denomination stated both in figures and in words. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | REICHSBAHNDIREKTION FRANKFURT AM MAIN / GUTSCHEIN / FÜNFHUNDERT MILLIARDEN MARK / 500 000 000 000 Mark |
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| Comments |
By late 1923, Germany's hyperinflation had outpaced the Reichsbank's ability to supply currency fast enough to be useful. Regional railway directorates — Reichsbahndirektionen — were authorized to issue their own emergency notes, Notgeld, to pay staff who needed wages denominated in figures the central bank's presses hadn't yet reached. The Frankfurt railway directorate's half-trillion Mark note is a product of that administrative collapse, printed locally by J. Maubach & Co. rather than through any central monetary authority.
The denomination itself is the detail worth pausing on: 500,000,000,000 Mark — five hundred billion — issued as a payroll instrument for railway workers.