500 Mark Erzgebirgischer Steinkohlen-Aktienverein

The Erzgebirgischer Steinkohlen-Aktienverein was a coal mining joint-stock company operating in the Erzgebirge region of Saxony, and this 500 Mark note is a product of the Notgeld emergency currency wave that swept German industry in 1921–1923. As hyperinflation eroded the purchasing power of Reichsbank notes faster than they could be printed, private companies — mines, factories, municipalities — were legally permitted to issue their own emergency scrip to pay workers and facilitate local trade.

Coal companies were among the more pragmatic issuers: their notes often circulated within tight geographic boundaries, accepted at company stores and local merchants, then redeemed in bulk. By late 1923, the denomination was worthless regardless.