Kempen am Rhein — not to be confused with Kempen in the Lower Rhine district of Prussia — issued this Notgeld piece during the acute coin shortage that followed Germany's post-war economic dislocation. Municipal and local authorities across the Rhineland flooded the market with small-denomination emergency paper in 1920, partly to meet genuine need and partly because the collector trade had made such issues commercially attractive to produce.
The watermark security feature is worth noting: many Rhineland Notgeld issues at this denomination skipped it entirely, relying on colored paper or overprints instead.
Kempen am Rhein — not to be confused with Kempen in the Lower Rhine district of Prussia — issued this Notgeld piece during the acute coin shortage that followed Germany's post-war economic dislocation. Municipal and local authorities across the Rhineland flooded the market with small-denomination emergency paper in 1920, partly to meet genuine need and partly because the collector trade had made such issues commercially attractive to produce.
The watermark security feature is worth noting: many Rhineland Notgeld issues at this denomination skipped it entirely, relying on colored paper or overprints instead.