50 Pfennig

Niederlahnstein — now merged into Lahnstein since 1969 — was one of hundreds of German municipalities forced into emergency currency issuance during World War One as small-denomination coinage vanished from circulation. The Reichsbank's metal requirements for the war effort gutted the coin supply, leaving cities to print their own Kleingeldersatz. This note is part of that first wave of municipal Notgeld, predating the more elaborate collector-targeted issues of 1920–21.

The guilloche underprint is the sole anti-counterfeiting concession — modest, but consistent with the municipal budget and the assumption that the notes would circulate briefly before redemption.