5 Pfennig

Marienburg's 1919 emergency coinage — Notgeld in the strict sense — was issued during the severe small-change shortage that gripped German municipalities in the immediate postwar period. The town was still firmly German at the time of issue; the Versailles treaty provisions transferring most of West Prussia to Poland did not take effect until January 1920, which gives this note a particular historical edge. Within months of its printing, Marienburg became Malbork, and such locally issued scrip was rendered void.

Municipal Notgeld of this denomination and period was typically printed by local jobbing printers on whatever stock was available, which accounts for the wide variation in paper quality seen across surviving examples of this series.