300 000 Mark Gutehoffnungshütte

Gutehoffnungshütte — the "Good Hope Foundry" — was one of the Ruhr's dominant industrial combines, operating coal mines, ironworks, and steelworks across the region. During the hyperinflation of 1923, the Reichsbank simply could not supply enough currency to meet weekly payroll demands, so large industrial employers were authorized to issue their own emergency notes, Notgeld, redeemable against wages. GHÜ issued directly from Oberhausen, stamping each note with the company's embossed seal in lieu of conventional printing security.

The 300,000 Mark denomination places this firmly in the summer-to-autumn 1923 acceleration, when denominations that would have been unthinkable in 1922 became routine within months.