5 000 000 Mark Ostelbisches Braunkohlensyndikat

The Ostelbisches Braunkohlensyndikat — the brown coal syndicate operating in the lignite fields east of the Elbe — issued emergency currency during the hyperinflationary peak of 1923 when the Reichsbank could not supply denominations fast enough to meet payroll demands. Industrial concerns across Germany were legally permitted to issue notgeld as wage money, and lignite mining operations, running continuous shifts, had particularly urgent need. Five million marks sounds extraordinary; by late 1923 it barely covered a loaf of bread.

Berlin-printed industrial notgeld of this type was typically redeemed within weeks of issue and pulped, making survivors disproportionately scarce relative to original print runs.