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500 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Mainz (City of Mainz) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in dark green on a pale olive-green guilloche underprint, the obverse is framed by an ornate scrollwork border. A left-hand panel carries the municipal coat of arms of Mainz above the Gothic-script legend 'Notgeld der Stadt Mainz' and a circular city seal at foot. The main field bears the denomination 'Fünfhunderttausend' in large Gothic blackletter across the centre, flanked by numeral counters '500 000 Mark 500 000', the series designation 'LIT. A' in a ruled box at upper centre, the issue date 'Mainz, den 2. Juli 1923' at lower left, and an autograph signature above the printed title 'Der Oberbürgermeister: / Beigeordneter' at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 500 000 Mark Notgeld der Stadt Mainz Fünfhunderttausend 500 000 Mark 500 000 LIT. A Mainz, den 2. Juli 1923 Der Oberbürgermeister: Beigeordneter Wird von allen städt. Kassen in Zahlung genommen und durch ortsübliche Bekanntmachung zur Einlösung aufgerufen. Wer Notgeldscheine nachmacht oder verfälscht oder nachgemachte oder verfälschte sich verschafft und in Verkehr bringt, wird mit Zuchthaus nicht unter zwei Jahren bestraft. |
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| Comments |
Mainz, like dozens of German municipalities in 1923, was forced into note issuance not by choice but by the complete collapse of Reichsbank supply. The hyperinflation peak that summer meant denominations which would have seemed absurd in 1921 were genuinely inadequate within weeks of printing — 500,000 Mark bought less each day it sat unspent. Municipal notgeld at this scale was emergency infrastructure, not monetary policy.
The embossed seal was the city's primary authentication mechanism, a low-cost solution that proved trivially easy to replicate. Forgeries of Mainz emergency issues from this period are documented.