1 000 000 000 Mark Reichsbahndirektion

The Reichsbahndirektion Altona was one of several regional railway directorates authorized to issue emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation peak of autumn 1923, when the Reichsmark was collapsing fast enough that payroll notes were worthless before workers could spend them. Railway administrations issued their own scrip partly out of necessity and partly because they had the administrative infrastructure to do it quickly. A billion marks from a regional rail office is precisely what that moment looked like in practice.

The watermarked paper distinguishes this from the cheapest emergency issues of the period, suggesting a degree of institutional seriousness even as the denomination rendered the note nearly satirical on arrival.