Halberstadt's 1920 notgeld series was printed locally by Louis Koch, an unusual choice — most municipal issuers of the period contracted Leipzig or Berlin printers to cut costs on larger runs. The watermarked paper suggests Koch or the city's procurement office sourced a higher-grade stock than strictly necessary for emergency small change, which was typically printed on whatever was available.
Halberstadt issued notgeld partly because the Reichsbank simply could not distribute sufficient small-denomination coinage during the postwar disruption. The coins were being hoarded obsessively, even copper and zinc pieces worth next to nothing in real terms.
Halberstadt's 1920 notgeld series was printed locally by Louis Koch, an unusual choice — most municipal issuers of the period contracted Leipzig or Berlin printers to cut costs on larger runs. The watermarked paper suggests Koch or the city's procurement office sourced a higher-grade stock than strictly necessary for emergency small change, which was typically printed on whatever was available.
Halberstadt issued notgeld partly because the Reichsbank simply could not distribute sufficient small-denomination coinage during the postwar disruption. The coins were being hoarded obsessively, even copper and zinc pieces worth next to nothing in real terms.