5 Pfennig Bezirkssparkasse

Bezirkssparkasse Mellrichstadt was one of hundreds of local savings institutions across Bavaria and Franconia that stepped in to fill the small-change vacuum during the postwar Kleingeldnot. By 1920 the shortage of low-denomination coinage had become acute enough that even district-level sparkassen — not just municipalities — were issuing their own emergency scrip. The legal basis was thin and the Reichsbank tolerated rather than sanctioned most of it.

At 48 × 32 mm, this is among the smallest Notgeld produced in the period — smaller than many postage stamps of the time.