10 000 000 Mark Gewerkschaft des Steinkohlen-Bergwerks Ewald

Ewald colliery in Herten was one of the major Ruhr coal operations, and during the hyperinflation peak of 1923 it issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — to pay wages when Reichsbank notes simply could not be printed fast enough to keep pace with price collapse. By August and September of that year, denominations that would have seemed absurd in 1921 were barely sufficient for a loaf of bread.

Industrial Notgeld of this type was privately produced, with the issuing company bearing full liability. Serial numbering was the only security measure — thin protection, but counterfeiting high-denomination colliery scrip in a collapsing currency was rarely worth the effort.