10 000 Mark

Gotha's municipal administration — like hundreds of German cities in 1923 — was forced into the paper money business by the collapse of Reichsbank supply chains during the hyperinflationary spiral. The Hofbuchdruckerei, the court printing house in Gotha, had the equipment and the local mandate; the result was emergency Notgeld denominated in figures that would have been unthinkable eighteen months earlier.

Dr. Meffert's signature as Oberbürgermeister gave the note what legal standing it had — municipal authority substituting for central banking infrastructure that had effectively ceased to function for everyday transactions.