1 000 000 Mark Reichsbahndirektion

The Reichsbahn-Direktion Dresden was one of dozens of regional railway administrations that issued emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation peak of 1923, when the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to meet wage demands. Railway workers had to be paid, and paying them in worthless billion-mark notes that hadn't yet been printed was not an option. Regional directorates were authorized to issue their own notes against anticipated central allocations.

Johannes Pässler in Dresden-Neustadt was a local commercial printer pressed into monetary service — hardly a security printing house by trade, which shows in the relatively plain execution. The denomination itself, one million marks, was already near-worthless by the time sheets came off the press.