500 000 Mark

Bad Kissingen's 500,000 Mark note was a product of the hyperinflation spiral of mid-1923, when municipal and regional authorities across Germany were forced to issue their own emergency currency — Notgeld — because the Reichsbank simply could not print and distribute legal tender fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. By the time denominations in the hundreds of thousands became necessary, a note printed one week was often worth a fraction of its face value the next.

Printing was handled locally by Schachenmayer, a Bad Kissingen press better known for commercial and decorative work than banknote production. The single signatory, Dr. Kollwein, was the Bürgermeister at the time.