1 billion mark piece (Province of Westphalia)

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The 1 billion mark piece of the Province of Westphalia from 1923 is a state emergency coin from the Landesbank of the Prussian Province of Westphalia from the period of inflation . The face value of one trillion marks is the highest that a German coin has ever had.

Coin description

Emergency money of the province of Westphalia, 1 billion marks from 1923, silver-plated nickel silver (diameter 60 mm, Jaeger No. 28)

The 1 billion mark piece is the last issue of the state emergency coins of the province of Westphalia, which were issued in aluminum , tombac , bronze , copper and nickel silver in the denominations of 50  Pfennig (1921) to 1 billion marks in 1921, 1922 and 1923 (1923) were minted and on the value side shows the jumping Westphalia horse , on the picture sides mostly the head of Baron vom Stein or, in a few issues, the bust of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff .

On the face of the largest state German emergency coin, the 1 billion mark piece, the head image of Karl Freiherr vom und zum Stein, the initiator of the Prussian reforms , can be seen. The value side shows the jumping Westphalia horse. Among them are the year of issue 1923 and the value “1 / Billion / Mk.” The inscription reads: “Minister vom Stein ∙ Germany's leader in difficult times 1757–1831 ∙ // emergency money of the province of Westphalia”. The 1 billion mark piece from the time of the Weimar Republic was silver-plated in nickel silver, a copper-nickel-zinc alloy, in an edition of 11,113 pieces without mint marks with a smooth edge. 500 copies were issued gold-plated. The extraordinarily large diameter is 60 millimeters, the weight approx. 83 grams. The very rare pieces in bronze are trial discounts .

Draft of the embossing

The design comes from the medalist and sculptor Rudolf Bosselt , director of the Magdeburg School of Applied Arts . A proof is on the so-called hybrid medal , which also belongs to the Notprägungen the province of Westphalia and in contrast to the 1-trillion-mark piece (and the other Notmünzen) signed is. It has two sides. On one is the head portrait of Freiherr vom Stein and on the other the bust of the poet Droste-Hülshoff. The two sides are identical to the face of the emergency coins with indication of value. The medal is signed with R. Bosselt on the side with the head of Stein and A. Rüller on the other side with the bust of Droste-Hülshoff. The artist's signatures on the hermaphrodite medal are proof of the design of the face of the emergency coins, including the unsigned 1 billion mark piece.

Historical connections

The financial consequences of the war were the reparations imposed by the victors of the First World War and the devaluation of money caused by the financing of the war through bonds . The consequences of the war led to the budget being overloaded , which evaded the acceleration of inflation in order to avoid national bankruptcy .

On January 11, 1923, the Ruhr area was occupied by French and Belgian troops. That was also the beginning of the Ruhrkampf , the passive resistance that was proclaimed by the Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno . A contribution to the support of the resistance was realized through the net proceeds of the state emergency coins of the province of Westphalia minted in 1923. The government under Gustav Stresemann had to break off the Ruhr struggle and stabilize the currency.

On October 16, 1923, the resolution to establish the Deutsche Rentenbank to eliminate inflation was announced. In the same year, on November 15th, a new currency order was introduced. That ended inflation. The Rentenbank was founded with 2.3 billion Rentenmarks . The cover was based on agricultural and industrial debts to the Reich. The exchange rate was:

The Dawes Plan to regulate the reparations problem of April 9, 1924 laid down the financial basis for the reparations. On October 11, 1924, the Rentenmark was replaced by the Reichsmark .

The issue of the 1 billion mark piece by the Province of Westphalia did not go as planned. When the coin was due to be issued in 1923, it had already been devalued by hyperinflation . The minted pieces were only issued in early 1924 after the inflation and stabilization of the mark had ended. The now invalid coin was sold to collectors or interested parties to commemorate the difficult times of inflation.

Replicas

This 1 billion mark piece, which is rare today , has gold-plated official replicas of the Hamburg mint made of nickel silver and silver , with a small hallmark on the face with the year of manufacture, for example. B. 2001 or 2015 are marked on the neck of the head picture. This allows the coinage, which is identical to the design of the coin, to be distinguished from the much more expensive original. However, there are also unmarked replicas ( forgeries ) known that u. a. are recognizable by the lower quality.

annotation

Only the denominations from 1921 ranging from 50 pfennigs to 10 marks were used as emergency money. They lost their validity on February 1, 1922. The other emergency coins, including the 1 billion mark piece, are "medal-like". They have never been real means of payment. The net proceeds of the coinage should be used for social purposes. The gold-plated 1 billion mark piece and other gold-plated emergency coins of the province were also known as "Ruhr ducats".

literature

  • Peter Menzel: German emergency coins and other money substitute stamps 1873-1932 , Berlin 1982.
  • Siegfried Bauer: German coins 1871 to 1932 including the coins of the former colonies and the state emergency money , Berlin 1976.
  • Friedrich von Schrötter (ed.) With N. Bauer, K. Regling, A. Suhle, R. Vasmer , J. Wilcke: Dictionary of Coin Studies , de Gruyter, Berlin 1970 (reprint of the original edition from 1930).
  • Heinz Fengler, Gerd Gierow, Willy Unger: transpress Lexikon Numismatics , Berlin 1976.
  • Helmut Kahnt: The large lexicon of coins from A to Z , Regenstauf 2005.
  • Kurt Jäger: The German coins since 1871 , 17th revised edition, edited by Helmut Kahnt, Regenstauf 2001. Therein: State emergency coins, Westphalia N 9 to 29.
  • Werner Conze and Volker Hentschel (eds.): German history, epochs and dates , Freiburg / Würzburg 1991.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ muenzgalerie: ( Memento from April 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Germany's highest nominal value of coins (re-strike 2001) - FG500 / 1 Billion Mark, p. 34
  2. ^ Kurt Jäger: The German coins since 1871 (2001), therein: State emergency coins, Westphalia N 9 to 29
  3. ↑ Kurt Jäger: The German coins since 1871 (2001): Jaeger-Nr. 28
  4. ^ Siegfried Bauer: German Coins ... (1976) p. 95: 500 pieces gold-plated
  5. ^ Siegfried Bauer: German coins ... (1976) p. 95: Samples in bronze
  6. ^ Peter Menzel: Deutsche Notmünzen ... (1982) p. 482: Rudolf Bosselt
  7. ↑ acsearch: hybrid medal
  8. ↑ Werner Conze and Volker Hentschel (eds.): Deutsche Geschichte… (1991) p. 249
  9. ↑ Werner Conze and Volker Hentschel (eds.): Deutsche Geschichte… (1991) p. 257
  10. ↑ Werner Conze and Volker Hentschel (eds.): Deutsche Geschichte… (1991) p. 258
  11. ↑ Werner Conze and Volker Hentschel (eds.): Deutsche Geschichte… (1991) p. 259
  12. ↑ Kurt Jaeger (note): The 1 billion mark piece was only issued in 1924 at the retail price of 2.50 Reichsmarks. (Based on an article by Fritz Reissner from 1940 about the emergency coins of the Landesbank of the Province of Westphalia)
  13. ↑ Information on the official re-coinage
  14. ↑ Peter Menzel: Deutsche Notmünzen ... (1982) p. 484: "Medaillencharakter"
  15. ^ Siegfried Bauer: German Coins ... (1976) p. 93
  16. ↑ acsearch : "Ruhr ducats"