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500 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtrat Augsburg (City Council of Augsburg) |
|---|---|
| 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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| Obverse description | Typographically printed Notgeld voucher on light paper with a wave-pattern guilloche underprint enclosed within a multiple-rule rectangular border. The heading "GUTSCHEIN ÜBER FÜNFHUNDERTTAUSEND MARK" is set in bold letterpress at the top, below which the denomination "500,000 MARK" appears in large, shadowed display type. A block of German text specifying the conditions of redemption against the Reichsbankstelle Augsburg fills the centre, followed by the serial number prefixed "Litera C Nr.", two manuscript facsimile signatures under the respective legends "STADTRAT AUGSBURG" and "HANDELSKAMMER AUGSBURG", and a circular official seal of the Stadtrat Augsburg at centre; the issue date "Augsburg, den 15. August 1923" is printed at foot, with the printer's imprint "J. P. Himmer, Augsburg" in small type below the border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted and shows only the plain cream-white paper stock with show-through impressions of the obverse letterpress text visible in mirror image, along with the serial number bleeding faintly through the sheet. No deliberate design elements, vignettes, or inscriptions are present. |
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| Comments |
Augsburg's municipal government was among hundreds of German cities forced to print their own emergency currency in 1923 as the Reichsbank's supply of physical notes failed to keep pace with hyperinflation. This is Notgeld in its most desperate form — not the decorative collector-oriented issues of 1920–21, but functional emergency money produced under genuine monetary collapse. By the time denominations this large were being printed locally, the inflation rate was doubling within days.
J. P. Himmer was a local Augsburg firm, which meant no delays waiting on outside printers. Speed mattered more than quality at this stage of the crisis.