50 000 Mark

Kreuznach was among the hundreds of German municipal and regional authorities that printed their own emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation of 1923, when the Reichsbank simply could not produce denominations fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. By mid-1923, a 50,000 Mark note represented a sum that would have seemed astronomically large just eighteen months earlier, and would be essentially worthless within weeks of issue.

The embossed seal was the city's primary authentication device, a practical choice when sophisticated printing security was neither available nor, given the note's likely lifespan, worth the expense.