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0.50 Mark
| Issuer | Gemeindekasse Bielschowitz (Municipality of Bielschowitz, Kr. Zabrze, Silesia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 0.5 Mark |
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| Obverse description | Plain cream paper Notgeld Gutschein in Fraktur letterpress. Serialnumber box upper left, denomination in large type at centre, redemption text in three lines, date line reading 'Bielschowitz, den 12. August 1914', and a circular municipality stamp bearing crossed mining axes at centre with legend 'GEMEINDE BIELSCHOWITZ KR. ZABRZE'. Two manuscript signatures below. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | No Gutschein. 0,50 Mark 0,50 Mark zahlt die Gemeindekasse zu Bielschowitz ohne Legitimationsprüfung dem Einlieferer dieses Scheines Bielschowitz, den 12. August 1914. Der Gemeindevorstand: Die Gemeindekasse: Anmerk.: Die Einlösung hat bis zum 31 Dezember d. Js. zu erfolgen. |
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| Comments |
Bielschowitz was a small industrial commune in Kreis Zabrze, deep in Upper Silesia's coal and zinc belt. This note is Kriegsgeld in its purest municipal form — issued in the first weeks of the 1914 mobilization, when the German banking system locked up and small change vanished almost overnight as metal was hoarded and mint output lagged behind demand. Hundreds of German municipalities did the same, but most were larger urban administrations; a Gemeindekasse at this scale issuing its own fractional paper is a genuinely local response to a systemic crisis.
The official stamp is the sole security measure — no watermark, no serial numbering scheme of any sophistication. Acceptance depended entirely on community trust and proximity.