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500 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Lüdenscheid (City of Lüdenscheid) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 000 Mark (500 000) |
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| Obverse description | Green guilloche underprint on white paper with black letterpress text throughout. Four oval vignettes occupy the corners: upper left bears the Lüdenscheid town coat of arms with a castle and armoured figure, upper right shows a rearing white horse (Westphalian arms), lower left a beehive wreathed in flowers, and lower right crossed tools with a windmill, referencing local industry. The large Gothic-script denomination "Fünfhunderttausend Mark" dominates the centre, with the serial number printed in red at upper right and the numeral "500000" repeated vertically along both lateral margins. Two manuscript signatures appear below the date line, and an anti-counterfeiting warning is set in a framed panel at the foot of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Stadt Lüdenscheid Fünfhunderttausend Mark Dieser Gutschein wird von allen städtischen und anderen öffentlichen Kassen in Zahlung genommen. Der Zeitpunkt der Einlösung wird in den hiesigen Ortsblättern bekannt gemacht. Die Stadtgemeinde Lüdenscheid haftet für die Einlösung. Lüdenscheid, den 11. Aug. 1923 Der Magistrat Wer Notgeld nachmacht oder verfälscht oder nachgemachtes oder verfälschtes sich verschafft oder in Verkehr bringt, wird mit Zuchthaus bestraft. CARL v. d. LINNEPE, LÜDENSCHEID. (Translation: City of Lüdenscheid Five Hundred Thousand Marks. This voucher is accepted in payment by all municipal and other public cash offices. The date of redemption will be announced in the local newspapers. The municipality of Lüdenscheid is liable for redemption. Lüdenscheid, 11 August 1923. The Magistrate. Whoever counterfeits or falsifies emergency money, or procures or circulates counterfeited or falsified emergency money, shall be punished with imprisonment.) |
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| Comments |
Lüdenscheid's 500,000 Mark note dates from the summer of 1923, when German hyperinflation was accelerating so rapidly that municipal governments across the Rhineland and Westphalia were forced to commission their own emergency currency — Notgeld — because the Reichsbank simply could not print and distribute sufficient denominations fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. By August of that year, 500,000 Marks was barely enough for a loaf of bread.
The printer, Carl v. d. Linnepe, was a local Lüdenscheid firm — unusual in that most larger Notgeld issues contracted out to established security printers in Berlin or Leipzig. Keeping production local was faster, if less secure.