50 Pfennig

Gotha's municipal emergency currency from 1921 places this note squarely in the second wave of German Kleingeldscheine — the small-denomination notgeld issued by towns and cities as the Reichsbank struggled to keep fractional coinage in circulation during the postwar economic dislocation. By 1921 the practical shortage rationale was fading, and many municipalities were printing notgeld as much for collector revenue as for genuine monetary need. Gotha was no exception.

The Hofbuchdruckerei was the city's own court printing house, giving the Stadtrat direct control over production. Dr. Scheffler signed as Oberbürgermeister — his tenure coinciding almost precisely with the inflationary spiral that would make 50 Pfennig essentially worthless within two years.