2 000 000 Mark Sparkasse

Oberweißbach is a small village in the Thuringian highlands, and its Sparkasse — a local savings institution, not a central bank — had no formal authority to issue currency under normal circumstances. The hyperinflation of 1923 changed that entirely. Municipal and savings institutions across Germany were granted emergency issuing rights as the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. By August and September of that year, a two-million mark denomination was already obsolescent within days of issue.

Thuringian Notgeld from small savings banks is often overlooked in favor of the major municipal series, but Oberweißbach examples are genuinely scarce given the population the institution served.