1 Mark

Salzwedel's 1921 notgeld issues were produced during the height of Germany's postwar small-change crisis, when municipal authorities across the country scrambled to fill the void left by hoarded and melted metal coinage. Louis Koch of Halberstadt was a regional printer who handled notgeld contracts for several Altmark and Harz-area municipalities during this period — competent but not among the prestige houses favored by larger cities.

The Magistrat's authorization rather than a private savings bank or chamber of commerce places this firmly in the civic emergency-issue category, distinct from the collectible "serienscheine" produced elsewhere purely for the philatelic trade.