75 Pfennig Kaufmännischer Verein

The Kaufmännischer Verein — a merchants' or commercial employees' association — was among the many non-municipal bodies in Germany that issued Notgeld during the early 1920s inflationary period when small-denomination coinage effectively vanished from circulation. These trade and professional associations issued their own emergency scrip partly out of necessity and partly, by 1921, out of the collector boom that had turned Notgeld into a minor revenue stream. Whether this 75 Pfennig note from the Cottbus branch was genuinely circulated or produced primarily for collectors is worth considering — the handstamp security feature suggests at least a nominal attempt at authentication.