500 000 Mark

Mülheim an der Ruhr was one of hundreds of German municipalities forced into emergency currency production during the hyperinflation of 1923, as the Reichsbank's output simply could not keep pace with the denomination spiral. By mid-1923, half a million marks was barely enough for a tram fare, and municipal issues like this one were being superseded by higher denominations within weeks of printing — sometimes days.

The guilloche underprint is local press work, competent but not sophisticated. No engraved intaglio, no watermark.