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| Issuer | Stadt- und Landkreis Gelsenkirchen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 000 000 Marks (500 000 000) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 500 MILLIONEN Fünfhundert Millionen Mark NOTGELD für den Stadt- und Landkreis Gelsenkirchen Ausgegeben von dem Stadt- und Landkreise Gelsenkirchen mit Genehmigung des Reichsfinanzministers Gelsenkirchen, den 28. September 1923. Dieser Schein wird bei allen Kassen der ausgebenden Behörden eingelöst. Er wird ungültig mit Ablauf der durch amtlichen Aufruf zu bestimmenden Frist. Der Oberbürgermeister Der Kreisausschuß I. V.: Werner Kreisdeputierter |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 500 MILLIONEN Reihe A Nº 015736 |
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| Comments |
Gelsenkirchen's half-billion Mark note dates from the autumn of 1923, when German municipal and regional authorities were legally permitted — effectively forced — to issue their own emergency currency, known as Notgeld, because the Reichsbank could not print fast enough to keep pace with hyperinflation. By the time notes of this denomination were entering circulation, prices were doubling in hours rather than days.
Stadt- und Landkreis Gelsenkirchen was a coal and steel district at the heart of the Ruhr, a region still reeling from the Franco-Belgian occupation that had begun in January of that year — a factor that accelerated the inflation catastrophe considerably. The currency reform of November 1923 rendered all such issues worthless almost immediately upon introduction.