500 000 Mark

Glehn — today Korschenbroich-Glehn, in the lower Rhine region — was a small municipality that issued its own emergency currency during the hyperinflation peak of 1923, when the Reichsbank simply could not supply denominations fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. The Bürgermeisterei, the lowest administrative tier of local government, had the legal authority to issue Notgeld under emergency provisions, though the practical shelf life of any 500,000 Mark note issued that year was often measured in days before the face value became economically trivial.

Provincial Notgeld at this denomination level was typically produced by local printers on short deadlines, and quality control was minimal.