100 000 000 Mark Handelskammer

One of hundreds of emergency currency (Notgeld) issues produced by municipal and commercial bodies across Germany during the hyperinflation of 1923, when the Reichsbank could not print fast enough to meet demand. By the time notes of this denomination were being struck, the mark was collapsing so rapidly that a 100-million-mark note represented a shrinking fraction of a day's wages — the Handelskammer zu Cassel was essentially racing inflation with each successive print run.

Wenderoth A.G. was a Kassel-based printing house with deep roots in commercial and securities printing, which made them a natural choice for local issuers needing fast, reasonably secure output. The guilloche underprint was the primary fraud deterrent — not sophisticated by central bank standards, but adequate for paper that would often be spent within hours of receipt.