50 Pfennig Thann

Thann — now Thann in Alsace — was French territory until the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 and would become French again after 1918. This 1914 emergency note was issued by the municipal cashier's office in the earliest weeks of the war, when small coin vanished almost immediately from circulation across the German Empire as the public hoarded metal. Dozens of Alsatian towns issued similar Notgeld that autumn, but Thann's position near the front made its wartime administration unusually precarious.

The watermark security feature is worth noting — relatively uncommon on municipal issues of this date, most of which were printed on plain stock with minimal formality.