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5 Mark Emergency Issue - WWI
| Issuer | Internationale Bank in Luxemburg |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1900-1918) |
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| Obverse description | Dark-blue letterpress text printed over a light-green guilloche underprint, framed by an ornate foliate border. The issuer's name appears in large display type at the head of the note, followed by the promise-to-pay legend and the denomination in bold gothic script. Three manuscript signature lines in the lower portion are attributed to the Grand Ducal Commissioner, the Bank Directorate, and the Control Officer respectively, with an anti-counterfeiting warning at lower right and the place and date of issue centered below the main text. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Die Internationale Bank in Luxemburg zahlt dem Inhaber dieser Banknote FÜNF MARK Deutsche Reichswährung Luxemburg, den 5. August 1914. Der Grossh. Commissar: Die Bankdirektion: Eingetragen Der Controlbeamte: Nachahmung und Fälschung werden nach den bestehenden Gesetzen bestraft. (Translation: The International Bank in Luxembourg pays to the bearer of this banknote Five Mark German Imperial Currency. Luxembourg, 5 August 1914. The Grand Ducal Commissioner: The Bank Directorate: Registered, The Control Officer: Imitation and counterfeiting will be punished under existing laws.) |
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| Comments |
Internationale Bank in Luxemburg occupied an unusual position in August 1914: a private commercial bank in a nominally neutral Grand Duchy, suddenly overrun by German forces and pressed into issuing emergency currency to prevent a total collapse of local commerce. The German military administration needed small-denomination notes in circulation immediately, and the existing stock of Reichsmarks was insufficient to cover daily transactions.
Pick 8 is one of several denominations the bank produced under these constrained wartime conditions. Whether the notes were printed locally or sourced through German military channels remains imperfectly documented — the bank's own records from this period are fragmentary at best.