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500 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Frankenthal (Palatinate) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 000 000 Mark (500 000 000) |
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| Obverse description | Uniface Notgeld printed in dark blue on white paper, with a geometric guilloche border running along all four edges. The denomination "Fünfhundert Millionen Mark" is set in large Gothic blackletter script across the centre, with the issuing authority "Stadt Frankenthal" and the numeral value "500 Millionen Mark" in the upper margin. To the lower left, the circular municipal seal of Stadtgemeinde Frankenthal bearing a heraldic lion is printed in blue, accompanied by two manuscript facsimile signatures above the serial number and the letter series designation "Lit. A". A narrow vertical text panel along the left edge carries the legal authorization notice. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Stadt Frankenthal. 500 Millionen Mark. Fünfhundert Millionen Mark zahlt die Stadthauptkasse Frankenthal dem Einlieferer dieses Scheins Lit. A Frankenthal, 3. August 1923. Der Stadtrat: Die Stadthauptkasse: i. V. Dieser Schein ist aufgrund Stadtratsbeschlusses vom 3. August 1923 mit Genehmigung des Reichsfinanzministeriums ausgegeben. Das Ende der Umlaufzeit wird in Frankenthal öffentlich bekanntgemacht. |
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| Comments |
Frankenthal issued this 500-million Mark note in 1923 at the absolute peak of the Weimar hyperinflation — by which point the Reichsbank had effectively lost control of the money supply and municipal authorities across Germany were printing their own emergency currency, Notgeld, simply to keep local wages moving. Half a billion marks on a single note sounds extraordinary; within weeks of issue, it would have struggled to buy a loaf of bread.
Frankenthal sits in the Palatinate, then under French occupation following the Treaty of Versailles. That political pressure added a separate layer of economic instability to the region, distinct from conditions in unoccupied Germany.