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500 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Magistrat der Stadt Bochum |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Notgeld (emergency money) note printed in dark brown on a tan guilloche underprint with a diamond lattice pattern throughout. The denomination "500 Millionen Mark" is set in large ornate Gothic (Fraktur) blackletter script at centre, above a two-line payment obligation text. The date "Bochum, 20. September 1923" appears at lower left, with the series designation and serial number below; at lower right the issuing authority "Der Magistrat der Stadt Bochum" is inscribed above two manuscript signatures identified by their titles Oberbürgermeister and Bürgermeister. The numeral "500000000" runs along the top and bottom borders, while vertical side panels carry the legend "500 MILLIONEN" alongside corner cartouches enclosing the value "500". |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 500000000 Notgeld der Stadt Bochum 500 Millionen Mark zahlen die städtischen Kassen in Bochum dem Einlieferer dieses Scheines Bochum, 20. September 1923 Reihe U Der Magistrat der Stadt Bochum Oberbürgermeister Bürgermeister 500 MILLIONEN |
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| Comments |
Bochum's municipal authority — like dozens of German cities in late 1923 — was forced to issue its own emergency currency as the Reichsbank's printing capacity and distribution network collapsed under hyperinflation. These Notgeld issues were legal stopgaps, not official Reichsbank instruments, issued under emergency provisions that allowed local authorities to supply the denominations workers needed simply to collect their wages.
By the time 500-million-Mark notes were necessary, the inflation had reached a point where this sum represented roughly the cost of a loaf of bread — briefly, and then not even that.