5 000 000 Mark Essener Steinkohlenbergwerke

Essener Steinkohlenbergwerke was one of the major Ruhr coal-mining conglomerates, and like hundreds of German industrial firms in 1923, it issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — when Reichsbank notes simply could not keep pace with hyperinflation. By the time denominations reached seven figures, wages were being paid in sacks of banknotes, often printed by local firms on whatever paper stock was available. C. W. Haarfeld was an Essen-based printer, which places production squarely within the issuer's own industrial region rather than being farmed out to Leipzig or Berlin specialty houses.

The single signature, Engelmann, almost certainly corresponds to a senior financial officer of the AG, though the specific role is unrecorded in standard references.