1 Pfennig

Weißwasser was a glass-manufacturing town in Upper Lusatia, and like hundreds of German municipalities in 1918, it issued its own Kleingeldscheine — small-denomination emergency notes — to compensate for the near-total disappearance of coin from circulation. The German imperial government had been withdrawing copper and nickel coinage since 1915 for war materials, and by 1918 even the smallest transactions had become difficult. Municipal authorities stepped in out of necessity, not ambition.

The watermark is notable for a note of this size and value. At 1 Pfennig, this is among the lowest denominations issued in the entire Kleingeldscheine phenomenon — most municipalities didn't bother below 5 Pfennig.