25 Mark

Dortmund's municipal administration issued this note under emergency currency provisions that allowed German cities and counties to produce their own Notgeld as the Reichsbank struggled to keep pace with hyperinflationary demand for physical currency in 1922. The joint coverage of both Stadtkreis Dortmund and Landkreis Hörde — two administratively distinct units — reflects a practical consolidation of issuing authority that was common in the Ruhr region, where industrial payrolls created particularly acute cash shortages.

The embossed seal was the issuer's primary anti-counterfeiting measure, applied after printing. It's a fragile feature — flattened on most circulated survivors.