5 Mark

Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines occupies a peculiar position in notgeld history: the town changed hands between France and Germany twice within living memory, sitting in the contested Alsace region. When this note was issued, the city was administered under its German designation, Markirch — a name that would disappear from official use after 1918 when Alsace returned to France. Municipal notgeld of this type was driven by the acute small-change shortage that gripped German-administered territories from around 1916 onward, with cities issuing their own paper to fill the gap left by hoarded coin.

The watermark security feature is worth noting for a city-level issue — more common in state or Reichsbank paper at this period than in municipal emergency currency.