10 000 000 Mark

Bochum's 10-million Mark note dates from August or September 1923, the most acute phase of Weimar hyperinflation, when municipal and corporate authorities across Germany issued their own emergency currency — Notgeld — because Reichsbank notes were depreciating faster than they could be printed and distributed. Cities like Bochum effectively became their own central banks out of necessity, not legal authority.

The watermarked paper is worth noting: by this stage of the crisis, many provincial issuers had abandoned security features entirely as production speed overtook all other concerns. A watermark here suggests this issue was produced while some institutional discipline still held.