2 000 000 Mark Reichsbahndirektion

The Reichsbahndirektion Elberfeld was one of the regional directorates of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, and like many non-banking institutions during the hyperinflation of 1923, it issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — to pay workers when the Reichsbank simply could not supply enough physical notes fast enough. The 2,000,000 Mark denomination places this note in the middle phase of the collapse, before the truly absurd figures arrived that autumn.

R. L. Friderichs was a local Elberfeld printer, not a specialist currency producer. The embossed seal was the issuer's primary attempt at authority — functional, if rudimentary.