50 Pfennig

Arnstadt's municipal administration issued this note during the Kleingeldersatz crisis of 1920, when a severe shortage of fractional coinage — driven by metal hoarding and wartime disruption — forced hundreds of German towns to print their own emergency currency. The Magistrat had legal authorization to do so under Weimar-era notgeld provisions, though the notes were theoretically redeemable on demand, a promise many small issuers struggled to honor.

The official seal served as the sole security feature, a thin line of authenticity for a note produced locally and accepted only within the town's own commerce.