20 000 000 Mark

Coblenz in 1923 was under French occupation — a fact that makes its municipal Notgeld considerably more politically charged than equivalent inflation-era emergency money issued elsewhere in Germany. The city printed this note on its own authority during a period when the Reichsbank was functionally unable to supply denominations large enough for basic transactions. Twenty million marks sounds extraordinary; by late 1923 it barely covered a tram fare.

The guilloche underprint was included as a rudimentary counterfeit deterrent, though at these hyperinflationary denominations, forgery was scarcely worth the effort.