1 Pfennig Ertel and Sohn

Ertel & Sohn was a Munich-based precision instrument manufacturer — theodolites, surveying equipment, optical devices — with no business being in the money-issuing trade. Like thousands of German firms in 1920, they issued Kleingeldersatz (small change substitute) because the postwar coinage shortage left commerce functionally paralyzed at the retail level. A pfennig note from a theodolite maker is exactly the kind of absurdity that defines the Notgeld period.

At 25 × 15 mm, this is among the smallest pieces of emergency currency documented in the Tieste catalog — closer in size to a postage stamp than a banknote.