1 Mark

Iserlohn, an industrial town in Westphalia with a long history in metal fabrication, issued this Notgeld during the inflationary spiral that gripped Germany in the early 1920s. Municipal authorities across the country were printing emergency money to compensate for chronic coin shortages — the Reichsbank simply could not keep small denominations in circulation fast enough as purchasing power eroded.

The watermarked paper distinguishes this issue from cheaper municipal printings of the same period, suggesting the city contracted a proper commercial printer rather than resorting to local jobbing presses.