1 000 000 000 Mark

Frankenthal's billion-mark note was issued during the most acute phase of the German hyperinflation, when municipal treasuries across the Rhineland were printing emergency currency — Notgeld — simply to meet weekly payroll. By September 1923, the Reichsbank could not supply denominations fast enough, and Stadtkassen like Frankenthal's were legally authorized to fill the gap. The Pfalz region was simultaneously under French occupation following the Treaty of Versailles, which complicated both the printing logistics and the political legitimacy of locally issued paper.

At the exchange rates then prevailing, a milliard mark bought little more than a loaf of bread for a matter of hours.