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1/2 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtkasse Lübeck |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | STADTKASSE·LÜBECK GÜLTIG BIS 31. DEZEMBER 1921 LÜBECK DEN 1. MAI 1921 ½ Mark JOH. MOLL. K.G. LÜBECK. |
| Reverse description | The reverse is divided into three vertical panels executed in a bold expressionist woodcut style in black and red. The left panel carries a stark silhouette of the Holstentor, Lübeck's iconic medieval gate tower, accompanied by a large decorative Gothic initial 'D' in red. The central panel presents a Low German verse in Gothic blackletter script arranged in ruled lines with red rubrication. The right panel bears the denomination '50 Pf.' rendered in large Gothic numerals in black and red, with the series designation 'No IV' at upper right and the designer's name 'ASMIS JESSEN' at lower right. |
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| Comments |
Lübeck's municipal treasury issued this half-mark note in 1921 as part of the broader German Kleingeldersatz emergency — small-denomination paper filling the void left by hoarded coins during the postwar inflation spiral. Lübeck had particular motivation to maintain civic monetary credibility: as a Free Hanseatic City it operated with a distinct administrative identity separate from the surrounding Prussian state, and its Stadtkasse took an unusually direct role in local currency matters.
Printed by Joh. Moll K.G., a Lübeck commercial printer with no particular specialty in security printing, the note reflects the limited production standards common to municipal notgeld of this period. Designer Asmis Jessen is otherwise obscure in the notgeld literature.