3 000 000 Mark Kreis Alzey

Alzey is a small administrative district in Rheinhessen, and like hundreds of similar Kreise across Germany, it resorted to issuing its own emergency currency during the hyperinflation of 1923 when Reichsbank notes simply could not be printed fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. This note, denominated at three million Mark, would have been rendered nearly worthless within days — possibly hours — of issue, given the velocity of inflation that summer.

Notgeld at this denomination level is firmly in the Inflationsnotgeld category rather than the earlier municipal issues, which were produced mainly for novelty and collector trade. The practical urgency behind pieces like this one shows in the production values.