10 000 000 000 Mark

During the hyperinflation crisis of autumn 1923, German municipal authorities were legally permitted — and practically compelled — to issue their own emergency currency, known as Notgeld, when the Reichsbank could not supply denominations large enough to meet daily wages. Eschweiler and Stolberg, both industrial towns in the Rhineland coal and metals belt, issued this note jointly, an administrative arrangement that was uncommon even among the proliferating Notgeld issuers of the period.

By the time ten-billion-mark denominations were necessary, the purchasing power of the sum had already eroded to roughly bus-fare equivalent. The Rentenmark reform of November 1923 rendered all such issues worthless within weeks.