1 000 000 Mark Teppichfabrikzentrale

Teppichfabrikzentrale A.-G. was a carpet manufacturing and wholesale firm based in Leipzig — not a bank, not a municipality, not a railway. During the hyperinflation peak of 1923, the Reichsbank actively encouraged large commercial enterprises to issue their own notgeld as a stopgap, since the central presses simply could not produce currency fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. This note is a direct product of that policy.

Leipzig firms issued notgeld prolifically in 1923, and trade-company scrip of this type typically circulated only among employees and local suppliers before being redeemed — or, more often, rendered worthless within days by the next round of devaluation.