2 Mark Darlehnskassenschein

The Darlehnskassenscheine — literally "loan office notes" — were a parallel emergency currency issued through the Reichsschuldenverwaltung rather than the Reichsbank, a bureaucratic distinction that had real consequences. Originally introduced in 1914 to prevent a run on metallic reserves at the outbreak of war, the scheme outlasted the conflict by years, feeding directly into Weimar-era inflation. The 1920 reissue of this denomination came at a moment when Germany's money supply was already spiraling; these small-denomination notes were stopgap instruments, not a monetary policy solution.

The watermark is the only meaningful security feature — thin protection against forgery, and largely irrelevant given how rapidly purchasing power was eroding.