50 000 Mark Reichsbanknote

This note entered circulation during the accelerating collapse of the German mark in 1922, when the Reichsbank was printing in quantities that would have been unthinkable just four years earlier. The 50,000 Mark denomination, which would have represented an enormous sum in 1918, was already becoming inadequate for routine transactions by the time this series was fully distributed. Within months, it would be rendered essentially worthless by the hyperinflationary spiral that peaked in late 1923.

The watermark was the sole security feature — a meaningful detail given how quickly the note's face value was outpaced by the cost of the paper itself.