1 000 000 Mark

Bayerische Vereinsbank was one of several regional German banks that issued emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation of 1923, when the Reichsbank's own presses couldn't keep pace with the collapsing mark. This particular piece was issued through the Passau branch and its associated trading house, Leuze Schropp & Cie., an arrangement that reflects how localized the emergency currency system had become by mid-1923: commercial firms were effectively co-issuing money alongside bank branches.

Gebr. Parcus in Munich printed extensively for Bavarian issuers during this period. The authentication relies entirely on handstamp and manuscript signatures — no serial numbering, no watermark — which made verification in daily commerce almost impossibly ad hoc.