20 000 Leva

Bulgaria emerged from the First World War on the losing side, stripped of territory and burdened by reparations under the 1919 Treaty of Neuilly. The resulting fiscal pressure forced rapid monetary expansion throughout the early 1920s, and denominations climbed sharply. The 20,000 Leva was an extraordinary face value for a country whose pre-war notes rarely cleared four digits.

Giesecke & Devrient had printed Bulgarian currency since before the war, and the Leipzig relationship continued uninterrupted through the postwar chaos — a notable continuity given that Germany itself was descending into its own hyperinflationary spiral at the same moment these sheets were being run.