25 Pfennig

Elberfeld issued this Notgeld note in 1919 as part of the nationwide small-change crisis that followed the collapse of the German Empire. Silver coins had vanished from circulation — hoarded, melted, or simply exhausted — and municipal governments were left to fill the gap themselves. Hundreds of cities did exactly this, with wildly varying quality and legal standing.

Elberfeld merged with four neighboring municipalities in 1929 to form Wuppertal, erasing it as an administrative entity entirely. Notes issued under the Elberfeld name are therefore fixed to a narrow window of civic existence.