25 Pfennig

Melle's 1917 Notgeld issues came early in the wave of municipal emergency currency that swept German towns after the Reichsbank began hoarding coin in the second year of the war. By mid-1917 the small coin shortage was severe enough that even modest Westphalian market towns were authorized to print their own fractional notes. F. E. Haag was a local press — not a specialist currency printer — which accounts for the unadorned, almost administrative appearance of the issue.

The Gra M27.1c designation places this within Grabowski's Notgeld catalog, with the Brm 4475.05.03 cross-reference confirming it in the Branse municipal series. The "1c" suffix indicates a recognized variety within the Melle 25 Pfennig run, distinguishing it from at least two earlier states of the same note.