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500 000 000 Mark Handelsverein
| Issuer | Handelsverein Bevensen und Umgebung (Trade Association Bevensen and Surroundings) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 000 000 Marks (500 000 000) |
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| Obverse description | Typeset cheque-format Notgeld printed in black Fraktur blackletter on cream paper. The denomination M. 500 000 000 appears at upper right, with a serial number in red at upper left; the central text orders the Kreissparkasse zu Bevensen to pay the bearer half a billion marks, dated Bevensen, 25. Oktober 1923. A red diagonal cancel overprint reads "Nur zur Verrechnung"; two manuscript signatures appear below the issuer line, captioned Vorsitzender and Schriftführer. A vertical column of redemption-bank text runs along the left margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | № 0540 M. 500 000 000 * Die Kreissparkasse zu Bevensen wolle zahlen gegen diesen Scheck aus unsereм Guthaben an den Ueberbringer * Eine halbe Milliarde Mark * Bevensen, 25. Oktober 1923. Handelsverein Bevensen und Umgegend. Vorsitzender. Schriftführer. Nur zur Verrechnung Dieser Scheck wird eingelöst von nachstehenden Banken und Sparkassen: Bevenser Bank Bevensen, Westholsteinische Bank Bevensen und Lüneburg, Kreissparkassen Bevensen und Uelzen, Kreisparkassennebenstelle Ebstorf, Spar- und Darlehskassen in Altenmedingen, Bevensen, Bienenbüttel und Himbergen. |
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| Comments |
Bevensen is a small spa town in Lower Saxony, and by late 1923 its local trade association was doing what hundreds of German municipal bodies, chambers of commerce, and private organizations were doing: printing their own emergency currency because Reichsbank notes simply couldn't be issued fast enough to keep pace with hyperinflation. At the note's printing, 500 million Mark was a meaningful sum; within weeks, it would barely buy a newspaper. The Handelsverein issues were accepted locally by member businesses under an informal guarantee arrangement, not by any state authority.
Notgeld of this denomination tier is common as a category but specific issuer variants can be difficult to attribute precisely — Bevensen's trade association produced multiple overprint and reprint runs during this period.