20 000 000 Mark Handelskammer

One of hundreds of Notgeld issues flooding the Rhineland in the summer and autumn of 1923, when hyperinflation was advancing faster than the Reichsbank could supply usable currency. The Handelskammer Mönchengladbach — the local chamber of commerce — stepped in as an emergency issuer, a role chambers had no traditional mandate for but were forced into by the complete collapse of purchasing power at street level. By the time denominations like this reached circulation, the ink was barely dry before the face value was already obsolete.

B. Kühlen was a local Mönchengladbach printer, not a security printing house, which accounts for the relatively modest production values. The official stamp serves as the primary authentication device — a thin safeguard for a note that was essentially worthless within days of issue.