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500 000 Mark Reichsbanknote
| Issuer | Reichsbank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Typographically printed note in red on cream paper, with the denomination 'Fünfhunderttausend Mark' rendered in large ornate Gothic blackletter script across the upper portion. The text body sets out the payment obligation of the Reichsbankhauptkasse in Berlin in Gothic script, dated 25. Juli 1923, flanked by two circular Reichsbankdirektorium eagle seals in red. The left margin carries a vertical anti-counterfeiting warning in small letterpress text, and multiple manuscript facsimile signatures of Reichsbank directorate members appear in the lower centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Reichsbanknote Fünfhunderttausend Mark zahlt die Reichsbankhauptkasse in Berlin gegen diese Banknote dem Ein- Lieferer. Vom 1. September 1923 ab kann diese Banknote aufgerufen und unter Umtausch gegen andere gesetzliche Zahlungsmittel eingezogen werden Berlin, den 25. Juli 1923 Reichsbankdirektorium |
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| Comments |
By the time this note was issued in mid-1923, Germany's hyperinflation had already rendered denominations issued just months earlier worthless for any practical transaction. The 500,000 Mark was printed in enormous quantities to meet demand that the Reichsbank itself could not keep pace with — private printers were contracted to supplement official output, and quality control suffered accordingly. Some notes in the series show measurable variation in ink density and watermark placement between print runs.
Within weeks of release, the 500,000 Mark was itself insufficient for basic purchases. The Rentenmark reform of November 1923 extinguished the entire Papiermark series at a conversion rate of one trillion to one.