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500 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt- und Landkreis Aachen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Entirely typographic reverse in green and pale rose, composed of multiple concentric guilloche borders of varying geometric patterns forming a deeply layered frame. The central panel, set against a light ground with a faint pink underprint of text (show-through from obverse), carries the large green numeral '500000' in serif type. Two small upright figural vignettes — each representing a standing armoured knight — flank the central numeral panel at left and right. |
| Reverse lettering | 500000 |
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| Comments |
Aachen's municipal administration issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation spiral of 1923, when Reichsbank notes were losing value faster than they could be printed and distributed. At the 500,000 Mark denomination, this note already belonged to the mid-tier inflation range; within weeks of issues like this circulating, denominations in the billions and trillions would follow.
Aachen's position on the Belgian and Dutch borders complicated matters further. The Rhineland was under Allied occupation at the time, and the French-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr in January 1923 accelerated the monetary collapse that made municipal printing operations like this one necessary in the first place.