50 Pfennig

Melle's 1917 Kleingeldschein belongs to the first wave of municipal emergency money forced into existence by the near-total disappearance of metal coinage from German circulation — hoarded, melted, or consumed by wartime industry. The Reichsbank could not plug the gap fast enough, so thousands of towns did it themselves. F. E. Haag was a local print shop, not a security printer, which is exactly the point: these notes were never meant to last, just to keep market stalls and tram fares moving.

The Grabbe reference suffix "c" indicates a recognized variety within the M27.4 type — likely a stamp color or text variant, as Melle issued multiple distinguishable versions across the series.