500 000 marks

By the summer of 1923, inflation in the Weimar Republic has already had enormous proportions, with notes with denominations of several hundred thousand and one million marks became a standard. On 17 August 1923 the city council of Złocieniec decided to issue substitute cash in denominations of 100 000, 500 000 and 1 million marks. The 500,000 and 1 million mark notes were issued in two series. As a guarantee of validity, the notes were stamped with a purple seal of the municipal treasury, a serial number and a handwritten signature of the controller. There are also notes without serial numbers and signatures, which seem to be worthless collector's copies. The substitute cash was to circulate for two months and was to be recalled in a traditional way – by an announcement in the local press, no later than on 1 October 1923. From that day on, the notes were exchanged at the municipal treasury for Reich marks. In late autumn, during the hyperinflation, by the decision of 3 November 1923 the magistrate of Złocieniec issued additional notes with a value of 50 billion marks, which were to be withdrawn from 2 February 1924, as well as a note with a value of 100 billion marks, which was to circulate until 1 October 1924. They were not stamped with a purple seal, nor did they bear the signature of the controller – they only had a serial number. However, the 100 billion mark note was not in circulation for as long as it was anticipated –  it was withdrawn in January 1924, in anticipation of the monetary reform carried out by the government. Depending on the denomination, a different colour of paper was used for production. Both issues of 500,000 mark notes were printed in Fraktur font on blue paper with wavy watermarks. By the law of November 15, 1923, the Deutsche Rentenbank was established, with the initial capital in the form of national assets – mainly land. This bank had the right to issue a new currency, the so-called Rentenmark. In January of 1923, the withdrawal of substitute cash began.

Mieszko Pawłowski