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500 000 Mark Messamt für die Mustermessen in Leipzig
| Issuer | Messamt für die Mustermessen in Leipzig |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 000 Mark (500 000) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse, printed entirely in green on plain paper, is a typeset composition dominated by the large Fraktur heading 'Notgeld' at the top. Below, a text block in Gothic script states the note was issued with the approval of the Reichsfinanzministerium for the Herbstmesse 1923, followed by the issuer's name 'MESSAMT FÜR DIE MUSTERMESSEN IN LEIPZIG' in bold capitals. Flanking a historical quotation in italic script dated 'anno 1581' are two stylised double-M monogram devices, the trademark symbol of the Leipzig trade fair. |
| Reverse lettering | Notgeld mit Genehmigung des Reichsfinanzministeriums zur Herbstmesse 1923 herausgegeben vom MESSAMT FÜR DIE MUSTERMESSEN IN LEIPZIG "Es muss beides Keuffer und Vorkeuffer beysammen sein und die Sache dahin erwogen werden, das beiderseits Leuthe die freyen Märkte zu besuchen nicht abgeschreckt oder abgehalten werden" anno 1581 |
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| Comments |
The Messamt für die Mustermessen — the trade fair authority administering the Leipzig Sample Fair — issued notgeld in 1923 not out of civic obligation but commercial necessity. The hyperinflation consuming Germany that year made it impossible to pay workers, vendors, and contractors at the fair grounds without locally issued emergency currency. The Leipzig trade fair was, by this point, one of the most internationally significant commercial events in Central Europe, which gave the Messamt both the institutional standing and the practical incentive to print its own.
Half a million marks sounds extraordinary; by mid-1923 it barely covered a streetcar fare.