5 Mark

Meißen's municipal notgeld emerged from the same wartime metal shortage that forced hundreds of German towns to print emergency paper in denominations normally reserved for coins. The Stadt Meißen issue sits in a well-documented category, but Meißen carries a specific irony: a city globally synonymous with fine porcelain was reduced to circulating paper scrip because the empire had requisitioned its metal for the war effort.

The watermark is worth noting — most municipal notgeld of this period dispensed with security features entirely, printing on whatever paper stock was available. Its presence here suggests the city either had access to quality stock or was making a deliberate gesture toward legitimacy at a moment when public trust in emergency currency was already fraying badly.