500 Mark

Krefeld's 500 Mark note of 1922 is municipal emergency currency — Notgeld issued by the city itself rather than any banking institution, a direct consequence of the hyperinflationary spiral that made Reichsbank supply completely inadequate for daily commerce. By mid-1922, denominations that would have seemed absurd two years earlier were routine, and cities across the Rhineland were printing their own paper simply to keep markets functioning.

Worms & Lüthgen were a local Krefeld firm, which is consistent with the decentralized, improvised nature of this whole category. The dry stamp was the municipality's primary authentication device — without it, the note had no official standing.