200 000 000 Mark Krupp

Krupp's Essen steel works issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation peak of 1923, when the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to meet payroll demands at a factory complex employing tens of thousands. A 200,000,000 Mark denomination sounds extraordinary, but by August 1923 it barely covered a day's wages. Industrial giants like Krupp had both the authority and the practical necessity to issue their own scrip, redeemable at company cashier offices.

Krupp Notgeld was denominated in Mark, not in the stabilized Rentenmark that replaced the collapsed currency in November 1923 — making this note functionally worthless within weeks of issue.