500 000 000 Mark Landesbank der Provinz Westfalen

The Landesbank der Provinz Westfalen was among dozens of regional and municipal German institutions that issued emergency currency during the hyperinflation of 1923, when the Reichsbank's own output could not keep pace with denominations climbing week by week. By the time 500-million-mark notes were being printed, that sum was worth less than a single pre-war Pfennig in gold terms. The Rentenmark reform of November 1923 rendered the entire class of Notgeld essentially worthless overnight.

Printed locally in Münster rather than routed through one of the major commercial printers, the note reflects the decentralized desperation of that period. Westfalen's provincial bank had the legal standing to issue but limited press capacity, which often shows in the relatively spare production quality of the series.