Original 1918 German 50 Pfennig Notgeld issued by the city of Bielefeld, Westphalia during World War I.
This note is a Kriegsplatzanweisung der Stadt Bielefeld — a wartime local emergency payment note. It was issued by the Bielefeld municipal savings bank and is dated March 1, 1918. The design features a blacksmith on one side and a German soldier on the other, with the Bielefeld city emblem and denomination in the center. The Smithsonian identifies this exact type as a 1918 Bielefeld 50 Pfennig Notgeld issue.
These notes were produced during the WWI coin shortage, when municipalities issued small-denomination paper currency because metal coinage had become scarce.
