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500 000 000 Mark Staffelstein
| Issuer | Stadtrat Staffelstein (City Council of Staffelstein) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Gutschein der Stadt Staffelstein (Genehmigt durch den Reichsfinanzminister) Fünfhundert Millionen Mark Staffelstein, im Oktober 1923 Stadtrat: |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted, presenting plain cream-coloured paper with faint offset show-through of the obverse typeset design visible through the thin stock; no text, vignette, or decorative elements are present. |
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| Comments |
Staffelstein is a small Franconian town on the upper Main river, and its city council was among hundreds of German municipal authorities forced to print emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation crisis of 1923. By the time denominations reached nine digits, the Reichsbank's own supply chains had collapsed under the volume; local printers like the Tagblatt-Druckerei, essentially a small newspaper press, were pressed into producing what amounted to legal tender by necessity rather than design.
Five hundred million marks sounds extraordinary, but by late October 1923 it would barely cover a loaf of bread. The Rentenmark reform of November 1923 rendered all such issues worthless within weeks of printing.