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500 000 000 Mark Bautz
| Issuer | J. Bautz A.-G. Erntemaschinen-Werk, Saulgau |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Typeset Notgeld voucher printed in black on a cream paper with an elaborate guilloche underprint in gold and olive tones, framed by finely engraved ornamental borders with geometric corner devices. The denomination "Fünfhundert Millionen Mark" is set in large blackletter (Fraktur) script at centre, with the numeral "500,000,000" and series letter "Lit. G." in the upper left; two circular "B" monogram medallions flanking the central text serve as the issuer's emblem. A manuscript signature of the Bautz firm appears below the issuer line, and a circular red cachet stamp is applied to the upper right, with the printer's imprint "Gebr. Edel. Saulgau." in small roman type below the lower border. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain unprinted reverse of cream-white paper stock, showing only the blind embossed impression of the obverse design visible as a faint through-print, with no deliberate printed design, text, or security elements present. |
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| Comments |
J. Bautz A.-G. was an agricultural machinery manufacturer in Saulgau — not a bank, not a municipality, not a government body. That it was authorizing and printing its own emergency currency at the 500 million Mark level tells you exactly where Germany was in the autumn of 1923, when hyperinflation was accelerating faster than official money could be distributed. Industrial firms across Württemberg issued notgeld simply to pay their workers, who would have otherwise received nothing spendable by the time official notes arrived.
Gebr. Edel was a local Saulgau printer, which almost certainly kept turnaround times short — a practical necessity when denominations were becoming obsolete within days.