25 Pfennig, Mecklenburg-Schwerin State Ministry, 1922

This copy

Accession

OM-00302

Serial

A 847802

Series year

1922

Actually issued

1922

state_ministry_1

Wendorff probable

Printed as a facsimile; the engraver's reduction has lost the letter forms. Hugo Wendorff was Minister-President of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1919-20.

state_ministry_2

Asch uncertain

Printed as a facsimile; the engraver's reduction has lost the letter forms.

state_ministry_3

not read unread

Printed as a facsimile; the engraver's reduction has lost the letter forms.

state_ministry_4

not read unread

Printed as a facsimile; the engraver's reduction has lost the letter forms.

Grade

XF (IBNS)

Even light toning across the sheet and slightly grubby edges; the red serial is strong and there is no fold through the design. Estimated from the 600 dpi archival scan, which shows folds, soiling and edge condition but not paper crispness, pinholes, pressing or small repairs.

Estimated value

$5.5 indicative

Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-09-26.

Dimensions

70.2 × 51.5 mm (±0.5, from the scan)

Themes

NotgeldEmergency moneyGerman state issueWeimar RepublicMecklenburg

The type

Type

25 Pfennig, Mecklenburg-Schwerin State Ministry, 1922

Printer

Baerensprungsche Hofbuchdruckerei, Schwerin

Rarity

common

Inscriptions

Reverse - the terms

Gueltig bis 1. Mai 1922. Dem Inhaber dieses Scheines zahlen gegen Rueckgabe des Scheines die Renterei sowie saemtliche Mecklenburg-Schwerinsche Banken und deren Agenturen den auf der Umseite angegebenen Betrag. Zerrissene, beschaedigte oder unkenntliche Scheine, bei denen die Nummer nicht mehr ersichtlich ist, werden nicht eingeloest.

Valid until 1 May 1922. On surrender of this note the state treasury, together with all Mecklenburg-Schwerin banks and their agencies, will pay the bearer the amount stated on the other side. Torn, damaged or illegible notes on which the number can no longer be made out will not be redeemed.

Symbology

Serie A and a red serial

Individually numbered in red, and the reverse warns that a note whose number cannot be read will not be paid. The number is the note's identity - this is accounted paper, not a souvenir.

The arms of Mecklenburg

The bull's head of Mecklenburg above the denomination panel, the state's emblem since the thirteenth century and still on the arms of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern today.

Four signatures

Members of the State Ministry, printed as facsimiles. A state ministry rather than a mayor: the note sits between a town's scrip and a Reichsbank note, and is guaranteed by a government.

An engraved border, no local scene

Where the collector-driven Serienscheine of 1921 put legends and landscapes on their notes, this one uses the conventional guilloche of real money. The state was not selling these to collectors; it was trying to make change.

What was happening

German Notgeld is usually a town's business. This one is a state's.

Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a grand duchy until 1918 and then a Free State within the Weimar Republic, with Schwerin as its capital and a population under seven hundred thousand. Its State Ministry issued this 25-Pfennig note in series, valid to 1 May 1922, redeemable at the state treasury - the Renterei - and at every bank in the state and their agencies.

That distinguishes it from the Serienscheine that made German Notgeld famous. There is no local legend, no dialect joke, no fashionable woodcut: an engraved border, a plain numeral, the state arms, four ministers' signatures and a serial number in red. It is the small change of a government that happened to be small, and it is printed by the former court printer at Schwerin, which is precisely who a state ministry would use.

The date matters. May 1922 is before the catastrophic phase of the German inflation - a 25-Pfennig note still meant something when this was issued, and would mean nothing eighteen months later, when the same ministry's successors were dealing in billions.

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 25 Pfennig, Mecklenburg-Schwerin State Ministry, 1922 in the collection.