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500 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtverwaltung Kaiserslautern (City of Kaiserslautern) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 000 Mark (500 000) |
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| Obverse description | Orange and dark blue Notgeld note with a bold zigzag guilloche border framing the entire face. A large underprint numeral '500' in orange occupies the centre, overlaid with the denomination in Gothic blackletter script reading 'Fünfhunderttausend Mark'; below, a smaller legend advises that the redemption date will be announced in local newspapers. The issue date 'Kaiserslautern, 10. September 1923' is printed centrally at the foot of the vignette, flanked by two manuscript signatures above the titles 'Bürgermeister' (Stadtverwaltung, left) and 'Finanzrat' (Stadthauptkasse, right); a handwritten serial number appears at upper right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | NOTGELD DER STADT KAISERSLAUTERN Fünfhunderttausend Mark DIE ZEIT DER EINLÖSUNG WIRD IN DEN ORTSZEITUNGEN BEKANNT GEGEBEN STADTVERWALTUNG BÜRGERMEISTER KAISERSLAUTERN, 10. SEPTEMBER 1923. STADTHAUPTKASSE FINANZRAT |
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| Comments |
Kaiserslautern entered the hyperinflation notgeld market relatively late. By the time municipal authorities were authorizing 500,000 Mark denominations in 1923, the Reichsbank's own printing capacity had become the binding constraint on the entire German monetary system — local issuers like Kaiserslautern filled the vacuum out of practical necessity, not financial ambition.
The Palatinate region was simultaneously under French occupation at this point, which complicated both commerce and the administrative machinery behind emergency currency issuance. Whether this particular note circulated primarily within the city or leaked into the broader occupied zone is not easily established.