5 Pfennig Vereinigte Harzer Portlandcement- und Kalkindustrie

Elbingerode notgeld from an industrial cement and lime conglomerate rather than a municipality or savings bank — an unusual issuer for emergency small change. During the severe coin shortages of 1917–1921, German industrial firms routinely issued their own low-denomination cardboard scrip to pay workers and facilitate transactions in company-adjacent commerce. The Vereinigte Harzer Portlandcement- und Kalkindustrie operated in the Harz mining and industrial belt, where limestone extraction fed directly into cement production.

Cardboard issues of this type were inherently fragile in circulation, which accounts for the scarcity of clean surviving examples across the Tieste Va series.