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500 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Frankfurt am Main (City of Frankfurt am Main) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse printed in brown on cream paper with a dense guilloche underprint filling the entire field, enclosed by a multi-rule rectangular border with stylised floral corner ornaments. The large numeral '500000' is set in bold outline figures at centre within an oval guilloche cartouche, flanked above by the blackletter legend 'Gutschein der Stadt' and below by 'Frankfurt am Main'. The printer's imprint 'C. Naumann's Druckerei, Frankfurt a/M.' appears in small type at the bottom margin. |
| Reverse lettering | Gutschein der Stadt 500000 Frankfurt am Main C. Naumann's Druckerei, Frankfurt a/M. |
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| Comments |
Frankfurt am Main was one of hundreds of German municipalities forced to print their own emergency currency in 1923 as hyperinflation outpaced the Reichsbank's ability to supply notes of sufficient face value. The 500,000 Mark denomination, enormous by any prewar standard, was already losing practical utility within days of issue — by mid-1923, a single loaf of bread in major German cities cost several times that amount. Stadt Frankfurt issued through successive denomination ceilings so quickly that each new series became obsolete almost immediately.
C. Naumann's Druckerei was a local commercial printer, not a specialist banknote house. The presswork reflects that.