25 Pfennig, Nordische Messe Kiel, 1921

Notgeld began in 1914 out of necessity: coin vanished into hoards within weeks of mobilisation and towns printed their own small change because the Reichsbank could not supply enough.

By 1920 it had become something else. The shortage was easing but the collector market was not, and bodies of every kind commissioned decorative notes printed far beyond any local need. This one was struck for the Nordische Messe (Nordic Trade Fair) held at Kiel, the Baltic harbour and naval town that is the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, in September 1921. Fairs of this kind sprang up across Germany in the hard post-war years to draw trade; the note served as small change at the fair and was redeemable afterwards at the Kieler Spar- und Leihkasse, being demonetised on 15 October 1921. The design is signed O. Vogeler and carries Low-German verses in keeping with the Nordic theme. Its companions are the 10-Pfennig, 50-Pfennig and 1-Mark values; see [[notgeld-kiel-nordische-messe-10-pfennig]] and [[notgeld-kiel-nordische-messe-50-pfennig]].

The obverse carries a red anchor emblem and two roundels of Kiel town views, with the legend "Gutschein der Nordischen Messe in Kiel, 25 Pfg" and the serial number. The reverse is headed "Nordische Messe Kiel 1921" around a blue compass-star device, under the Low-German motto read on the note as "De Hauptsak is, dat ieder deit sin Plücht" - "the main thing is that each does his duty."