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500 000 Mark Olbernhau
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Olbernhau |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Size | 140 × 96 mm |
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| Obverse description | Printed on buff paper in dark blue and red, the note carries a dense foliate guilloche border framing the entire face. The issuing authority title 'Stadtgemeinde Olbernhau' is set in bold Gothic blackletter across the upper register, with the denomination 'Fünfhunderttausend Mark' rendered in large red Gothic script across the centre. A heraldic shield vignette — bearing three white fir trees over horizontal wavy bars — occupies the middle field, flanked by ornamental scrollwork. The serial number in red and a manuscript signature above the title 'Bürgermeister' appear respectively at left and right, with a validity clause at lower left and an approval line referencing the Reichsfinanzminister along the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Stadtgemeinde Olbernhau No 09450 Einhundert 500 000 M. Fünfhunderttausend Mark Gültig nur im Stadtbezirk Olbernhau und nur bis zum 15. November 1923 Mit Genehmigung des Reichsfinanzministers Bürgermeister |
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| Comments |
Olbernhau is a small industrial town in the Erzgebirge, the ore-mining district of Saxony, and like hundreds of German municipalities in mid-1923, it was forced to issue its own emergency currency when Reichsbank notes simply couldn't be printed fast enough to keep pace with hyperinflation. By the time denominations reached 500,000 Mark, the note's purchasing power was already degrading within days of issue — sometimes hours.
Local Notgeld at this scale was typically a one-run printing job, often produced by a regional jobbing printer with no security printing experience. Survival rates vary sharply by town; smaller municipalities frequently printed shorter runs.