1 Mark

Kreissparkasse Hofgeismar was a district savings bank in the Kassel region of Hesse-Nassau, and like hundreds of similar institutions across Germany, it issued emergency paper money — Notgeld — during the acute coin shortage that followed the outbreak of war in 1914. These small-denomination notes filled the gap left by hoarded silver and copper, circulating locally at the district level rather than through any national banking channel.

Gebrüder Gotthelft was a well-established Kassel printing house responsible for a substantial portion of Hessian Notgeld output during this period. The DeNG suffix variants (.3-4/5) indicate minor typographic or serial differences within the same basic issue — a cataloguing detail worth attention when distinguishing between otherwise near-identical pieces.