1000 Mark

Schopfheim is a small town in the Baden region near the Swiss border, and its municipal council — Der Gemeinderat — issued this note during the acute inflationary spiral of 1922, well before the hyperinflationary peak of late 1923. Municipal Notgeld at this denomination reflects the breakdown in Reichsbank note distribution rather than any local monetary authority; towns issued what the central system failed to supply.

Printed locally by Ed. Litfein, the dry seal was the primary authentication device — typical for small-run municipal issues where intaglio security printing was neither available nor affordable. The trockenstempel was applied after printing, leaving a blind emboss that forgers found difficult to replicate convincingly on period paper stocks.