20 000 000 Mark Verein der Bergwerke am Linken Niederrhein

Emergency notgeld issued by a coal mining cooperative on the left bank of the Lower Rhine, this 20-million-mark piece belongs to the extreme inflationary peak of late 1923, when denominations were climbing so fast that industrial employers often issued their own scrip simply to meet weekly payroll before the Reichsbank could supply adequate currency. The Verein der Bergwerke am linken Niederrhein was not a bank — it was a colliery association, printing money as a matter of operational necessity.

Schott A.G. in Rheydt handled the printing, a regional commercial printer pressed into service like dozens of others across the Ruhr and Rhine districts that year.