1 000 000 Mark overprint on 5 Mark

Leipzig's city council, like dozens of German municipal authorities in the summer of 1923, resorted to overprinting existing low-denomination stock rather than waiting for freshly printed Notgeld to arrive. The underlying 5 Mark note became worthless so rapidly that the overprint inflating it to one million marks was itself economically obsolete within days of issue — possibly hours, depending on the date of release relative to the hyperinflation curve of late August and September 1923.

Overprint issues from this period vary considerably in ink color, placement, and type quality, and Leipzig produced multiple overprint variants during the crisis. Distinguishing genuine municipal overprints from later philatelic reproductions requires close attention to ink absorption into the paper stock.