5 000 000 000 Mark

Bingen's five-billion-mark note is a product of Germany's hyperinflationary peak in late 1923, when district and municipal authorities were legally permitted — and practically compelled — to issue their own emergency currency, known as Notgeld, because the Reichsbank simply could not print and distribute denominations fast enough to keep pace with the collapsing mark. The Kreisamt Bingen turned to a local commercial printer, A. d. Hemerling Nachf. G.m.b.H., which had no specialized security printing background — a fact that made counterfeiting almost beside the point when the note's face value was itself worthless within days of issue.