1000 Mark

Heidelberg's municipal administration was one of hundreds of German city governments forced to print their own emergency money as the Reichsbank lost control of the money supply in 1922. This is Notgeld in its inflationary phase — distinct from the decorative small-denomination Notgeld produced for collectors between 1919 and 1921. By late 1922, the city wasn't printing curiosities; it was trying to keep local wages payable.

The embossed dry seal was the municipality's primary authentication device, applied individually to each note — a labor-intensive method that couldn't scale with the printing volumes the inflation would soon demand.