5 Marks type 1947

After World War II, France administered a zone of occupation in western Germany and needed small-denomination currency to function independently of the Allied Military Mark. These Marks, printed in Paris by the Imprimerie du Timbre — better known for postage stamps than banknotes — were issued under French authority rather than any German institution, a distinction that mattered considerably to Bonn when the question of monetary unification arose in 1948.

The engraving team is notable: Deloche and Bornet both worked extensively on French postage stamps, which accounts for the almost philatelic precision of the intaglio work on this small note.