page_title: Notgeld
section_title: Notgeld at the height of the German hyperinflation
hierarchical_section_title: Notgeld / Germany / Notgeld at the height of the German hyperinflation
caption_attribution_description: English: 5 million mark coin 1923 notgeld reverse with date and denomination.
context_page_description: Notgeld refers to money issued by an institution in a time of economic or political crisis. The issuing institution is usually one without official sanction from the central government. This occurs usually when sufficient state-produced money is not available from the central bank. Most notably, notgeld generally refers to money produced in Germany and Austria during World War I and the Interbellum. Issuing institutions could be a town's savings banks, municipality and private or state-owned firms. Nearly all issues contained an expiry date, after which time they were invalid. Issues without dates ordinarily had an expiry announced in a newspaper or at the place of issuance.
  Notgeld was mainly issued in the form of banknotes. Sometimes other forms were used, as well: coins, leather, silk, linen, wood, postage stamps, aluminium foil, coal, and porcelain; there are also reports of elemental sulfur being used, as well as all sorts of re-used paper and carton material. These pieces made from playing cards are extremely rare and are known as Spielkarten, the German word for "playing card".
context_section_description: By July 1923, the Reichsbank had lost control of the economy. Notgeld flooded the economy, being issued by any city, town, business, or club that had access to a printing press, in order to meet the insatiable rise in prices. Even Serienscheine were being hand-stamped with large denominations to meet the demand. By September, Notgeld was denominated in the tens of millions; by October, in billions; by November, trillions.
caption: A 5 million mark coin, issued by the Province of Westphalia during the hyperinflation of 1923
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