5 Pfennig Bezirkssparkasse

Bezirkssparkasse Mellrichstadt was a district savings institution in Lower Franconia, and like hundreds of similar local bodies across Germany it resorted to issuing its own fractional Kleingeld during the acute small-change shortage of the early Weimar emergency currency period. These notgeld pieces were never intended as anything other than a stopgap — redeemable at the issuing branch and essentially worthless beyond the town limits. At 37 × 30 mm, this is among the smallest paper notgeld formats produced, barely larger than a postage stamp, which made losses and tears endemic.

The Grabowski reference M29.3a suggests at least minor variety distinctions within the Mellrichstadt issues — typically paper shade or overprint differences.