50 000 000 Mark

Heilbronn's 50-million Mark note dates to the peak of the German hyperinflation — by the time notes of this denomination were being issued by municipal authorities in late 1923, the Reichsbank had effectively lost control of the money supply and hundreds of cities, towns, and private firms were printing their own emergency currency (Notgeld) simply to make payroll. Carl Rembold & Sohn was a local printing firm, not a specialist banknote printer, which is typical of the municipal issues from this period.

The sheer face value is the point of interest here. Germany's inflation accelerated so rapidly that a 50-million Mark note, extraordinary by any peacetime measure, would have bought little more than a few loaves of bread at the moment of issue.