5 000 000 Mark Landesbank der Provinz Westfalen

The Landesbank der Provinz Westfalen issued this note during the catastrophic hyperinflation of 1923, when German regional and municipal authorities were legally permitted — and practically forced — to issue their own emergency currency, known as Notgeld, to meet payroll and basic commercial needs. By mid-1923, the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough, and provincial banks stepped in to fill the gap.

Five million marks sounds extraordinary, but by autumn 1923 it barely covered a loaf of bread. The watermark is one of the few security concessions made at this denomination — by late in the crisis, many comparable emergency issues dispensed with such features entirely.