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10 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Kaiserslautern |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Notgeld voucher printed in olive-green and black on cream paper, framed by a ruled border with hatched outer margins and numeral '10' cartouches at each corner. The issuer's name in Gothic blackletter script heads the note, followed by the denomination 'ZEHN MARK' in bold display type over a faint large-numeral guilloche underprint. Below, a three-line redemption clause in antiqua type is flanked by a serial number box at lower left and the place-date 'KAISERSLAUTERN, 10. OKTOBER 1918' at lower right, above the authority line 'DIE STADTVERWALTUNG:' with two manuscript signatures. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in olive-green, with a dense all-over guilloche underprint of interlocking scale-like rosettes filling the field. A central ornamental cartouche with scrolled corner ornaments and fine vertical line engraving frames the large numeral '10' in relief against a striped background, creating a striking counterfoil-style design. |
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| Comments |
Kaiserslautern's 10 Mark Notgeld from 1918 belongs to the first wave of municipal emergency currency — issued not from post-war economic collapse but from the acute coin shortage that developed in Germany during the war itself, as metal was diverted to the war effort and small-denomination Reichsbank notes failed to meet everyday transactional demand. Hundreds of German municipalities scrambled to fill that gap in 1918, each printing its own instruments with varying degrees of official sanction.
At 10 Mark, this sits at the upper end of practical Notgeld denominations for a city of Kaiserslautern's size — smaller issues typically ran to 50 Pfennig or 1 Mark. The higher face value suggests local commercial pressure rather than pure change-making need.