5 000 000 Mark Reichsbahndirektion

Deutsche Reichsbahn issued its own emergency currency during the hyperinflation peak of 1923 because the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to meet payroll. The railways were among Germany's largest employers, and regional directorates — Karlsruhe included — were authorized to produce notgeld denominated in marks at figures that had been unimaginable just months earlier. Five million marks, enough to buy a loaf of bread for perhaps a day, depending on when in that autumn you were spending it.

Railway-issued notgeld from this period was typically redeemed quickly and destroyed, which keeps surviving examples genuinely uncommon despite the enormous quantities originally printed.