50 000 000 000 Mark

Singen-Hohentwiel was among thousands of German municipalities forced into emergency currency issuance during the hyperinflation peak of late 1923, when Reichsbank notes could not be printed fast enough to keep pace with price collapses measured in hours. A fifty-billion-mark denomination — unthinkable eighteen months earlier — was entirely routine by November of that year. The Oberländer Zeitung G.m.b.H., the local newspaper printer, was pressed into service for the job, as dedicated security printers were overwhelmed and irrelevant in any case: counterfeiting a note this worthless was pointless.

Notgeld from this period was typically demonetized and recalled within weeks of issue, which means surviving examples often saw little or no actual handling.