20 Pfennigs

Sankt Goarshausen sits on the east bank of the Rhine directly opposite Sankt Goar, and both towns issued emergency paper in 1920 as Germany's postwar coin shortage ground on through the Weimar transition. This Magistrat issue is part of the enormous wave of municipal Notgeld that flooded Germany between 1919 and 1921 — tens of thousands of distinct pieces from hundreds of small issuers, many of whom seized on the format as a minor revenue opportunity, knowing collectors would hoard them uncirculated.

The presence of a watermark at this denomination is worth noting; many comparable small-value municipal pieces skipped security features entirely. Whether the watermark was a deliberate anti-counterfeiting measure or simply a consequence of purchasing commercially watermarked paper stock is not documented for this series.