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500 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Stettin (Magistrat) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 000 Mark (500 000) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Typographically composed Ersatz-Wertzeichen (emergency substitute token) on cream paper, enclosed within a bold geometric border of repeating chevron and triangle motifs. The denomination FÜNFHUNDERTTAUSEND MARK is set in large bold letterpress type at centre, below which a text line states that the Städtische Kämmereikasse will pay the bearer, dated Stettin, den 11. August 1923. The serial number is printed in red within a ruled box at upper right, flanked by the Oberbürgermeister's and Stadtkämmerer's manuscript signatures at lower left and right respectively, with the issuing authority Der Magistrat centred above them; vertical marginal inscriptions note validity and counterfeit penalties. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Kaumann (Oberbürgermeister) and Düfner (Stadtkämmerer) |
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| Comments |
Stettin's municipal authority — not the Reichsbank — issued this note as a Notgeld emergency currency during the hyperinflationary spiral of 1923, when central bank supply chronically lagged behind the speed at which denominations became worthless. By the time 500,000 Mark notes were being struck, that figure represented ordinary daily expenditure; weeks later, it would be effectively nothing.
Bauchwitz was a Stettin-based printer, so production and issue were genuinely local — no outsourced plates, no Berlin intermediary. The signatures of the Oberbürgermeister and Stadtkämmerer gave the notes what formal legitimacy they had.