1 000 000 000 Mark

Cochem's billion-mark note was one of hundreds of emergency currency pieces — Notgeld — issued by German municipalities and districts during the hyperinflation of late 1923, when the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to keep pace with price collapses measured in hours. Landkreis Cochem, a rural administrative district on the Moselle, had no particular monetary significance; it issued this denomination because a billion marks was, by autumn 1923, barely enough for a loaf of bread.

The Rentenmark reform of November 1923 extinguished these notes almost immediately after issue, leaving large quantities unspent.