50 Pfennig Rötha

Rötha is a small Saxon town south of Leipzig, and like thousands of German municipalities it resorted to Notgeld during the acute coin shortage of 1917–1921. The 50 Pfennig denomination was among the most commonly issued values in this period — practical enough to substitute for the small change that had vanished from circulation as metal was diverted to the war effort and, later, as inflation eroded confidence in the Reichsbank's own fractional coinage.

At 51 × 33 mm, this is among the smallest Notgeld formats produced, which sometimes caused feed problems on the crude local presses used for municipal issues.