1 000 000 Mark Eschweiler Bergwerks-Verein

Eschweiler Bergwerks-Verein was one of the major coal mining operations in the Aachen coalfield, and like most large industrial employers in the Rhineland during the 1923 hyperinflation, it issued its own notgeld to pay workers when Reichsbank currency became practically worthless faster than it could be printed and distributed. These million-mark notes were a payroll instrument first, circulating medium second — the company had both the credibility and the captive workforce to make them function locally.

Peter Urlichs in Aachen handled a substantial volume of emergency currency printing for regional issuers during this period. The Merkelbach reference covers three catalogue variants for this denomination.