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| Issuer | Handelskammer des Memelgebiets (Chamber of Commerce of the Memel Territory) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1922) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark |
| Protection description | Chain watermark. |
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| Comments |
The Memel Territory was detached from Germany by the Treaty of Versailles and placed under French administration in 1920, pending a final settlement. The Handelskammer — a regional chamber of commerce rather than a central bank — issued this note because the territory lacked any proper monetary authority of its own. It was an improvised solution to a genuinely unclear political situation.
Gebrüder Parcus in Munich had a long record printing Notgeld and emergency issues during the inflationary chaos of the early Weimar years. The watermark is one of the few concessions to security on what was, functionally, a stopgap instrument. Lithuania seized the territory by force in January 1923, rendering the entire Handelskammer series obsolete within months of issue.