5 Mark

Wiedenbrück, a small Westphalian town with a population barely clearing 5,000 in the early 1920s, issued this note during the first wave of German municipal notgeld — before hyperinflation made such instruments nearly worthless within weeks of printing. At five marks, this sits at the upper end of denominations municipalities typically authorized for themselves under the emergency currency provisions that followed the postwar financial disruption.

Ad. Eßich & Co. of Oldenburg handled a substantial volume of notgeld commissions from smaller German municipalities during this period, which means the printing quality is competent but the design almost certainly follows a house template rather than a custom commission.