10 000 Mark

Kiel's municipal administration issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation spiral of 1923, when the Reichsmark was collapsing fast enough that waiting for centrally printed notes was impractical. By mid-1923, the 10,000 Mark denomination that would have seemed absurd two years earlier was barely covering a tram ride. Cities, counties, and private firms across Germany printed their own parallel paper to keep commerce moving at the local level.

The watermarked paper is worth noting — many comparable municipal issues dispensed with security features entirely given the printing urgency and the near-certainty that the notes would be worthless within weeks regardless of counterfeiting risk.