10 Pfennig Bezirkssparkasse

Bezirkssparkasse Mellrichstadt was one of hundreds of German district savings banks forced into emergency currency issuance during the acute coin shortage that followed the First World War. These Kleingeldscheine — small-denomination notgeld filling the gap left by hoarded copper and nickel — were authorised locally and redeemed locally, with no central oversight of print runs or destruction records. Mellrichstadt, a small Bavarian market town, produced notes that circulated almost exclusively within its immediate district.

Survival rates for low-denomination 1920 paper notgeld are poor; the material was flimsy and spent hard before redemption drives pulled most of it back.