50 Pfennig

Rottenburg am Neckar issued this Kleingeldschein during the acute small-change shortage that gripped Germany in 1917–18, when hoarding of metal coins became so severe that hundreds of municipalities, districts, and private firms resorted to printing their own fractional notes. The legal basis was shaky throughout — the Reich never fully sanctioned the practice, but tolerated it out of necessity.

Gebrüder Parcus in Munich handled a substantial volume of this municipal emergency paper, supplying notgeld to Bavarian and Swabian towns alike. Their output is generally consistent in printing quality, which makes condition differentiation within the series more meaningful than it might otherwise be.