5 000 000 000 Mark Cloppenburg

Cloppenburg was a small administrative district in Lower Saxony with no particular financial weight — which makes its issuance of five billion marks during the hyperinflation peak of late 1923 entirely unremarkable by the standards of that autumn. Thousands of German municipalities, utilities, and commercial firms became de facto note issuers that year as the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to keep pace with the collapsing currency. The Stadtkasse, the municipal cashier's office, was the most basic civic body authorized to issue Notgeld.

By the time denominations reached the billions, the notes were often worth less on delivery than when ordered from the printer.