20 000 Mark Handelskammer

Mönchengladbach's Chamber of Commerce was one of hundreds of regional bodies forced into emergency currency production during the hyperinflation of 1923, when the Reichsmark's collapse outpaced the central bank's ability to supply denominations large enough for everyday transactions. These Handelskammer notes — Notgeld in function if not always in formal classification — were legal tender only within a defined local area, backed by nothing more substantial than the issuing body's commercial credibility.

Hermann Schött A.G. in nearby Rheydt handled the print run, which kept production costs and logistics tight at a moment when both were genuinely difficult to control. By the time 20,000 Mark felt like a useful denomination, it was already being overtaken by the inflation it was meant to address.