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.
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.