Catalog
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| Issuer | J. Bautz A.-G. Erntemaschinen-Werk, Saulgau |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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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. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Gutschein über fünfhundert Millionen Mark Saulgau, den 10. Oktober 1923. J. Bautz, A.-G. Erntemaschinen-Werk, Saulgau/Württ. Dieser Gutschein wird bis 1. Dezember 1923 gegen Verrechnung sofort, gegen bar nach Behebung der Bargeldknappheit von der J. Bautz A.-G., Erntemaschinen-Werk, Saulgau, sowie von der Gewerbebank Saulgau in Zahlung genommen. - Fristverlängerung vorbehalten. |
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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.