100 000 000 000 Mark

Berchtesgaden's municipal administration issued this note at the absolute peak of the Weimar hyperinflation — a hundred billion marks, a denomination that would have been unthinkable eighteen months earlier. By late 1923, German towns, cities, and businesses were printing their own emergency currency (Notgeld) because the Reichsbank simply could not produce notes fast enough to meet demand. Municipalities became de facto issuers by necessity, not ambition.

The watermarked paper is notable for a local issue of this type — most provincial Notgeld at this denomination was printed on whatever stock was available.