500 000 Mark

Schwabach was a small Franconian town better known for its gold-leaf industry than its monetary policy, yet like hundreds of German municipalities in 1923, the Stadtrat found itself compelled to issue emergency currency — Notgeld — simply to meet payroll as Reichsbank notes became worthless faster than they could be printed. The 500,000 Mark denomination places this squarely in the hyperinflation's middle phase; by November 1923, such a sum would not have purchased a single postage stamp.

Buchdruckerei G. Müller was a local commercial printer, not a security press, and the production reflects that — these were job-printing operations turned monetary instruments by necessity rather than design.