100 000 000 Mark

Issued by the district administration of Landkreis Düsseldorf at the height of the German hyperinflation, this 100-million Mark note is a product of the emergency currency system — Notgeld — that proliferated across German municipalities in 1923 when Reichsbank notes simply could not keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. Local authorities were legally permitted, under increasing central government tolerance, to issue their own notes to cover basic payroll and commerce.

The watermarked paper distinguishes this from cheaper Notgeld issues of the period, suggesting a degree of institutional investment in legitimacy — unusual for a note whose face value would have been nearly worthless within weeks of printing.