1/2 Million Mark - Hamburg

Hamburg issued its own emergency currency in 1923 because the Reichsbank simply could not supply enough coinage to keep pace with hyperinflation — by mid-year, half a million marks bought roughly a loaf of bread, and that purchasing power was itself evaporating by the hour. As a Free and Hanseatic City with a long tradition of monetary autonomy, Hamburg had both the legal standing and the institutional confidence to act independently. The aluminium composition was not a stylistic choice; it was the only metal cheap enough that the coin's intrinsic value would not immediately exceed its face value.