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500 Mark overstamp on 10 Mark
| Issuer | Stadt Gera (Haupt- und Residenzstadt Gera) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Green and black letterpress Gutschein on pale green paper, with large Fraktur script denomination 'Zehn Mark' across the centre field within a foliate border. Date 'Gera, d. 25. Sept. 1922' and issuer text below; signature lines for Stadtrat and Gemeinderat with Oberbürgermeister designation at foot. A bold diagonal '500 Mark' overstamp in black letterpress cancels the original face value. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | Gutschein der Haupt- u. Residenzstadt Gera Dieser Gutschein wird zugelassen zum 1. Febr. 1921 10 Mark 10 Mark zur Tilgung und Einlösung ausgerufen 500 Fünfhundert Mark |
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| Comments |
Gera's decision to overstamp 10 Mark notes to a face value of 500 Mark is a direct artifact of the accelerating German inflation crisis of 1922, when municipal authorities across Thuringia scrambled to create emergency denominations faster than printing new stock allowed. Repurposing existing low-denomination paper was a practical solution — cheap, immediate, and legal under the Notgeld provisions that gave cities broad latitude to self-issue.
The overstamp itself is the document. What it records is not just a denomination change but the specific moment when the gap between printed value and purchasing reality became too large to ignore with new print runs alone.