Catalog
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| Issuer | Kreisausschuß des Landkreises Bochum |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 000 000 Marks (500 000 000) |
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| Obverse description | Green letterpress note with a large star-rosette guilloche underprint at centre. The issuer title LANDKREIS BOCHUM is set in bold Gothic blackletter across the top, below which the denomination Fünfhundert Millionen Mark appears in large decorative Fraktur script. A three-line redemption text in smaller Fraktur names the Kreiskommunalkasse and district savings institutions as paying agents, followed by the date Bochum, den 1. Oktober 1923 at lower left and two manuscript signatures above the titles Landrat and Mitglieder. To the right a narrow attached coupon panel carries the numeral 500 and the legend Millo-Mark within a circular eagle vignette inscribed KREISAUSSCHUSS DES LANDKREISES BOCHUM. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | LANDKREIS BOCHUM Fünfhundert Millionen Mark zahlen die Kreiskommunalkasse, die Amts-, Gemeinde- und Sparkassen des Landkreises Bochum dem Einlieferer dieses Scheines. Der Kreisausschuß des Landkreises Bochum Bochum, den 1. Oktober 1923. Landrat Mitglieder 500 Millo-Mark KREISAUSSCHUSS DES LANDKREISES BOCHUM |
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| Comments |
One of hundreds of emergency currency instruments issued by German district administrations during the hyperinflation of 1923, this note from the Landkreis Bochum — the rural administrative district surrounding the city of Bochum, distinct from the city itself — reflects the point at which the Reichsmark had collapsed so thoroughly that half a billion marks was a denominations of practical, everyday necessity rather than theoretical abstraction. By the time notes at this level were being printed and distributed, the Reichsbank's own supply chain could not keep pace with demand, forcing Kreisausschüsse across the Ruhr to issue their own Notgeld.
The Ruhr occupation by French and Belgian forces, ongoing since January 1923, had strangled industrial output and accelerated the currency's collapse. Local authorities in the region were simultaneously administering passive resistance and managing monetary chaos.