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500 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Kreis Ahrweiler (District of Ahrweiler) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Kreis Ahrweiler Gutschein über Mark Fünfhundert Millionen Dieser Gutschein wird von der Kreissparkasse Ahrweiler bezw. deren Zweigstellen in Zahlung genommen. Er verliert seine Gültigkeit nach vorgehender Bekanntmachung in den Zeitungen des Kreises. Kreis Ahrweiler haftet für die Einlösung. Ahrweiler, den 5. Juli 1923 Der Kreisausschuß des Kreises Ahrweiler: 500.000.000 Serie A EDUARD KIRFEL, AHRWEILER |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a large central vignette of the Kurhaus at Bad Neuenahr rendered in brown letterpress, with figures in the foreground and a wooded hillside behind; the denomination '500 MILLIONEN' is set in blue at the upper right, with '500 Millionen' repeated vertically in blue along both side margins within a fine guilloche border. A four-line verse in Gothic script occupies the upper left, celebrating the Ahrtal region, and the caption 'Bad Neuenahr, Kurhaus' appears below the vignette; two circular Kreis Ahrweiler eagle seals are impressed at the lower left and lower right corners. |
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| Comments |
By late 1923, German municipal and district authorities were printing their own emergency currency — Notgeld — because the Reichsbank simply could not produce denominations fast enough to keep pace with hyperinflation. Kreis Ahrweiler, a rural administrative district in the Rhineland, turned to local printer Eduard Kirfel rather than waiting on central supply. That decision was entirely practical: transport delays alone could render a shipment of notes worthless before it arrived.
At 500 million Mark, this note dates from the period when German inflation was doubling roughly every few days. It would have had a useful life measured in hours.