50 Pfennig

Neumarkt in Silesia — now Środa Śląska in Poland — issued this Notgeld during the acute small-change famine that gripped postwar Germany between 1919 and 1920, when hoarding of metal coinage left municipalities scrambling for emergency substitutes. Grass, Barth & Comp., operating under the W. Friedrich imprint in Breslau, was the default printer for dozens of Silesian municipalities during this period, which makes attribution straightforward but also means the production quality is workmanlike rather than distinguished.

Silesia's fate was unresolved at the time of issue — the Paris Peace Conference was still deliberating the region's future, and the plebiscite mandated under the Treaty of Versailles would not be held until March 1921.