200 000 000 Mark Deutsche Reichsbahn

The Deutsche Reichsbahn began issuing its own emergency currency in 1923 because the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to meet payroll demands. Railway workers needed to be paid — daily, in some cases — and industrial employers across Germany were authorized to produce notgeld as a stopgap. The Reichsbahn's issues are among the more institutionally credible of the lot, backed by a state enterprise with real assets rather than a municipal treasurer scrambling for paper.

By the time 200-million-mark denominations were necessary, the inflation had already destroyed most intuitive sense of value. This note would have bought roughly a loaf of bread in mid-October 1923 — and nothing at all two weeks later.