1 000 000 Mark

Bad Tölz was one of hundreds of German municipalities that issued emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation crisis of 1923, when the Reichsmark collapsed so rapidly that local authorities had to print their own denominations simply to make change. By the time million-mark notes were necessary for everyday transactions, the psychological and economic damage was already irreversible; the Rentenmark stabilization came in November 1923, rendering this and all comparable issues worthless within months of printing.

Municipal Notgeld at this denomination level was produced in enormous quantities and survives in abundance — the scarcity is not in the paper but in documented examples bearing specific date stamps or cashier signatures that confirm actual circulation rather than philatelic issue.