50 Pfennig

Carlow is a village in Mecklenburg, not to be confused with the Irish county town. This note is one of thousands of municipal Notgeld issues printed during Germany's postwar small-change shortage, when coins had largely vanished from circulation hoarded or melted. H.G. Rahtgens operated out of nearby Lübeck and handled a substantial volume of regional Notgeld commissions during this period, which accounts for the consistent print quality across issues from this corner of northern Germany.

The DeNG reference covering two variants (0221.1-2/3) suggests minor differences between printings — likely a signature or serial numbering distinction rather than a plate change.