1 000 000 000 Mark

Furtwangen, a small Black Forest town best known for its clockmaking industry, was among hundreds of German municipalities forced to print their own emergency currency during the hyperinflation of 1923. By the time a billion-mark denomination was necessary, the Reichsbank had simply lost the capacity to supply enough currency fast enough — local authorities stepped in by legal necessity, not choice. The Notgeld issued at this scale was often obsolete within days of printing, its face value consumed by inflation before the ink was dry.

Kirchberg G.m.b.H. was a local firm, which kept turnaround short. The watermarked paper suggests modest security ambition for what was, in practice, a disposable instrument.