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500 000 Mark Handelskammer
| Issuer | Handelskammer M. Gladbach (Chamber of Commerce Mönchengladbach) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Printer | Schott A.G., Rheydt, Germany |
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| Obverse description | Printed in purple on pale paper, the upper half carries a large central vignette of a winged helmeted head in left profile — an allegorical Mercury or Hermes figure — set against a background of flowing horizontal lines with an industrial chimney stack to the right, all within a ruled border. The denomination "Fünfhunderttausend Mark" is set in bold Gothic blackletter across the top beneath the voucher legend "Gutschein über", while the lower portion bears the issuing authority text in Gothic script, the date M. Gladbach / 28. Juli 1923, two manuscript signatures, and the serial number with suffix letter at lower right. A circular embossed dry stamp appears at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in purple and pale green, centered on a dark rectangular panel bearing the large numeral "500000" in white Gothic figures, framed above and below by guilloche rosette ornaments and flanked left and right by further concentric-oval guilloche elements. The entire composition is enclosed within a decorative chain-link border, with the denomination "500000" repeated vertically in the left and right margins. A small monogram cartouche appears at the bottom centre below the central panel. |
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| Comments |
One of thousands of Notgeld issues that flooded Germany during the hyperinflation peak of 1923, when municipal bodies, chambers of commerce, and private firms alike were authorized — effectively forced — to print their own emergency currency to meet payroll and daily commerce. The Handelskammer M. Gladbach issued this note at a moment when the Reichsmark's purchasing power was collapsing by the hour; a 500,000 Mark denomination that would have seemed grotesque eighteen months earlier was already barely adequate for routine transactions by mid-1923.
Schott A.G. in nearby Rheydt handled the printing — a logical choice given the proximity, as transport delays could render a denomination obsolete before delivery.