5 Pfennig

The Bank Deutscher Länder was the transitional central bank established by the Western Allied occupation authorities in March 1948, roughly three months before the currency reform of June 1948 that replaced the Reichsmark with the Deutsche Mark. This note was part of that reform issue — the entire series was printed in the United States and shipped to Germany under strict secrecy to prevent hoarding and black-market speculation ahead of the switchover.

At 12.175 million printed, the 5 Pfennig was among the lower-volume pieces in the series. The small physical size made these prone to loss and early attrition, and surviving examples in genuinely unhandled condition are harder to source than the print run alone would suggest.