5 Pfennig

Reichenbach im Vogtland was one of hundreds of German municipalities that scrambled to print emergency small-denomination notes in 1919 as the postwar coinage shortage made even Pfennig transactions functionally impossible. The Stadtgemeinde — the municipal authority itself, not a bank — issued directly, which was common for Vogtland-area towns but gave these pieces no backing beyond local administrative credibility.

The embossed seal was the issuer's primary authentication device, applied individually to each note. It's the detail that separates genuine issues from contemporary counterfeits, of which Vogtland Kleingeldscheine attracted a modest but documented number.