100 000 000 000 Mark Hallesche Pfännerschaft

The Hallesche Pfännerschaft was a centuries-old salt producers' cooperative in Halle, one of the oldest industrial guilds in Germany, reorganized as a joint-stock company in the modern era. Like hundreds of German municipalities and private firms, it issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation of 1923, when the Reichsbank simply could not print legal tender fast enough to meet daily wage demands. By the time hundred-billion-mark denominations became necessary, workers were being paid twice daily to outrun price increases.

Locally printed in Halle, the watermarked paper offered rudimentary protection against counterfeiting — a somewhat academic concern when the note's face value collapsed within hours of issue.