Design: Herbert Bayer, 1923
Orderer: Land of Thuringia.
Measure: 5,43 x 2,75 inches.
Colour: Orange.

_{State: The offered voucher has a lot of folds. In all it is in a good condition.}

A rare voucher over one hundred million marks, which is payed to whom who brings it to the fund of Sonneberg i. Thuringia, issued 1923 the 25th of September. Notice on the voucher: After two weeks the voucher is losing its validity as legal tender notice.
Compared to the banknotes this voucher is not watermarked.

Just 23 years old, Herbert Bayer was called to design a series of banknotes for the country Thuringia, a liberal stronghold and historical region of central Germany. It was the 8th of August in the year 1923. Virtually overnight, he realized a compelling, functional concept in the programmatic ideas of the famous Bauhausschool.
He was a painter and currently a so called “youngmaster” of the famous Bauhaus in Weimar. Later, from 1925 on, he led his own workshop at the Bauhaus Dessau: typography and advertisement.
The famous, so called “Bauhaus-exhibition” was forthcoming in the year 1923 between July and September and was crucial to clarify the identity and the objectives of the Bauhaus. His concept for the typography of the notes is the first testimony to the famous change in the Bauhaus, when Walter Gropius exposed the slogan "art and technology – a new unit", a new orientation from craftsmanship to a technical base.

Bayer's draft is the first typographic design, directly from the Bauhaus and the first assignment for typification: the draft was graphically clear and easily distinguished from other banknotes and it was typographic standardized. The graphical approach allowed even some variations, without loosing the identity of the product. The voucher is thus a continuation of the million and 100millions-notes in a slightly larger size and the milliards-notes in a smaller size.
Bayer managed a concept, which could work with different values, series and locations – a very early example of modern typography.

With these notes Herbert Bayer already showed his great potential. He became one of the leading and internationally renowned typographers of the century.

Compare: Kat. Herbert Bayer: Das künstlerische Werk 1918-1938, Bauhaus Archiv Berlin 1982, p.29.
Price reference: Quittenbaum Kunstauktionen München: Höhepunkte der Design-Geschichte III – Design made in Germany, 27. November 2006, Los 138, hammerprice for one bill: 260$, 200€.

Continuing:  galloping inflation, national „Notgeld“ of the country Thuringia, series,
see addendum in „Experten-Forum“: Bayers Notgeld - Design in der Krise.

Cp. "Notgeld", Weimar 1923, Design Herbert Bayer, Bauhaus.

Millions- "Notgeld", Thuringia, Herbert Bayer, Weimar 1923.

One-milliard- "Notgeld", Herbert Bayer, Weimar 1923.

Voucher, Thuringia, Herbert Bayer, Weimar 1923.