1 000 000 Mark Teppichfabrikzentrale

Teppichfabrikzentrale A.-G. was a rug and carpet manufacturing cooperative based in Leipzig, and this note is a product of the Notgeld emergency currency phenomenon at its most extreme — the hyperinflationary peak of 1923, when a one-million-mark denomination was not unusual for daily transactions. Private firms, municipalities, and cooperatives across Germany issued their own emergency scrip during this period because the Reichsbank simply could not print official currency fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power.

A carpet industry association issuing its own currency is unremarkable by 1923 standards. What it confirms is how thoroughly monetary authority had fragmented by mid-year.