1 000 000 Mark Reichsbanknote

By August 1923, when this note entered circulation, the million-mark denomination was already losing ground to inflation before most examples had left the Reichsbank's counters. The German government's decision to fund passive resistance in the Ruhr — following the Franco-Belgian occupation in January 1923 — by printing money at scale is what broke the currency. This note is a direct product of that political choice, not merely an economic accident.

Pick 86 was printed at the Reichsdruckerei in Berlin. The series was short-lived; within weeks of issue, denominations in the billions were being prepared, and the million-mark note became functionally worthless before most specimens had time to circulate heavily.