1 000 000 000 Mark

Schwelm is a small town in the Ruhr industrial belt, and its district committee was among hundreds of local German authorities forced to issue emergency money — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation of 1923, when the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to meet demand. By the time denominations reached the milliard mark, the notes were often worth less than the paper they were printed on before the ink had dried. Phil. Saltin in nearby Gevelsberg was a regional commercial printer, not a specialist security printer, which explains why an embossed seal was the primary — and rather minimal — anti-counterfeiting measure employed.