10 000 000 000 Mark Thüringische Staatsbank

Thüringische Staatsbank was one of dozens of German regional and state institutions that issued emergency currency during the hyperinflation peak of autumn 1923, when the Reichsbank could not supply sufficient notes fast enough to meet the collapsing purchasing power of the mark. By the time notes at this denomination level were being printed, the zeros had become essentially meaningless as accounting units — ten billion marks would not reliably cover a tram fare by the time the ink dried.

The watermarked paper was a concession to anti-counterfeiting norms that had become almost absurd at this stage: forging a note worth so little in real terms was hardly worth the effort.