150 Mark Herzogliche Sparkasse

The Herzoglich Braunschweigische Sparkasse — the ducal savings bank of Brunswick — issued this 150 Mark note in 1918 as an emergency financial measure in the final year of the First World War. The denomination itself is telling: 150 Mark sits awkwardly between standard values, suggesting it was calibrated to address a specific local shortage of circulating currency rather than slotted into any rational denomination scheme.

The cardboard substrate was a wartime necessity. By 1918, quality paper stocks in Germany were severely depleted, and regional issuers made do with whatever printable material was available.