Notgeld (German for ’emergency money’ or ‘necessity money’) is money issued by an institution in a time of economic or political crisis. The issuing institution is usually one without official sanction from the central government. This usually occurs when not enough state-produced money is available from the central bank. In particular, notgeld generally refers to money produced in Germany and Austria during World War I and the Interwar period. Issuing institutions could be a town’s savings banks, municipalities and private or state-owned firms. Nearly all issues contained an expiry date, after which time they were invalid. Issues without dates ordinarily had an expiry announced in a newspaper or at the place of issuance.

This Norden 25 Pfennig Notgeld was issued in the Prussian province of Hannover in 1921. The obverse side of the note depicts a stylized image of a windmill in the center with the denomination on the side. The reverse side features the bearer’s policy in German. The not does not have any security thread but watermark diamond stars and measures 80 x 42 mm.