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500 000 Mark
| Issuer | Kreiskommunalkasse Randow (District of Randow) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in dark brown and violet on a pale lilac underprint with a decorative foliate background. The denomination 'Fünfhunderttausend Mark' is set in large Gothic blackletter script across the upper and central portion of the note, surmounted by the legend 'Ersatzwertzeichen'. A central ribbon scroll cartouche bears the payment obligation text referencing the Randower Kreiskommunalkasse and the issue date of 15 August 1923. The lower left carries the authorising text of the Vorsitzende des Kreisausschusses des Kreises Randow with the title 'Landrat' and a manuscript signature, while a bold serial number appears at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse carries a central vignette in brick-red and black depicting the Gothic market chapel (Kapelle) of Pölitz set against flanking townhouse facades, with silhouetted trees to either side. The scene is identified by the inscriptions 'KAPELLE MARKT-PLATZ PÖLITZ' to the right and 'RANDOW-LIED V. 3' to the left. Below the vignette, four lines of a local verse ('Randow-Lied', stanza 3) are rendered in Gothic blackletter script, attributed 'F.F.H.'. The designer's name 'H. SCHUBERT' and the printer's imprint 'M. BAUCHWITZ, STETTIN' appear in the lower margin. A decorative floral guilloche border frames the entire composition. |
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| Comments |
Randow was a rural district in Pomerania, administered from Stettin, and like hundreds of German local authorities in the summer and autumn of 1923, its Kreiskommunalkasse was forced to issue its own emergency currency — Notgeld — simply to meet payroll and keep commerce moving as Reichsmark hyperinflation outpaced the Reichsbank's ability to supply adequate denominations. The 500,000 Mark figure, astronomical by any prewar measure, was already losing purchasing power within days of printing.
M. Bauchwitz was a Stettin commercial printer, not a specialist security firm. District-level Notgeld of this period was produced under pressure, with turnaround times measured in days rather than weeks.