20 Mark

Chemnitz was one of the most industrially active cities in Saxony, and by late 1918 the collapse of the imperial financial system had pushed municipalities across Germany into emergency currency production. This note is Notgeld in the strict sense — issued not as a curiosity or collector piece, but because small-denomination Reichsmark coins had been hoarded out of circulation and the city needed a functional substitute.

Richard Müller printing and engraving in-house for a local municipal issuer is relatively uncommon; most Notgeld of this period was farmed out to larger commercial printers. The watermark security feature is a cut above what many comparable city issues bothered with in 1918.