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500 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Crefeld (City of Crefeld) |
|---|---|
| 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 | Printed in dark blue on a salmon-pink guilloche underprint, the obverse is divided into two panels by a decorative border of interlocking geometric ornaments. The left panel carries the municipal coat of arms of Crefeld — a circular vignette with a standing saint figure beneath a mural crown — above the letterpress inscription STADT CREFELD. The right panel bears the denomination in Gothic blackletter script, Fünfhunderttausend Mark, over a large faint numeral 500000 watermark-style underprint, followed by the payment text, issue date of 1 August 1923, and the facsimile signature of Oberbürgermeister Dr. Johansen; the serial number and series letter appear at upper left, with the printer's imprint WORMS & LÜTHGEN CREFELD at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Signature(s) | Dr. Johansen |
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| Comments |
Crefeld's 500,000 Mark note dates from the summer of 1923, when Weimar hyperinflation was accelerating so fast that municipal authorities across the Rhine Province could no longer wait for Reichsbank supply. Stadt Crefeld — the textile manufacturing center known internationally for its silk trade — issued its own emergency currency, or Notgeld, as a purely practical stopgap. The printer Worms & Lüthgen was a local firm, which kept production fast and under municipal control.
By the time 500,000 Mark denominations were necessary, the note's face value was already eroding within days of printing. Dr. Johansen's signature authenticated the obligation, though the city itself would be made whole when the Rentenmark stabilization in November 1923 rendered all such issues void.