Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/2 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtkasse Lübeck |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1/2 Mark |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | A large spread-winged double-headed eagle rendered in bold black letterpress occupies the centre of the note, with a two-part shield on its breast bearing the denomination '1/2' in the upper field and 'Mark' in red in the lower field. The underprint consists of a repeating pale guilloche pattern of circular medallions and star motifs. Issue date 'LÜBECK DEN 1. MAI 1921' is printed in large type at the foot, with serial number and two manuscript signatures at the lower left and right respectively. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is executed in a bold Expressionist style combining red and black letterpress. A vignette of the Holstentor, Lübeck's iconic medieval brick gateway, appears at lower left in solid black. To its right, a large calligraphic text block in Gothic blackletter script renders a Low German proverb in red and black. The denomination '50 Pf.' is set in oversized decorative numerals and letters at the upper right, with the designer's name 'ASMUS JESSEN' printed in small capitals at the lower right. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Lübeck's Stadtkasse issued this Notgeld fractional during the acute small-change shortage that followed Germany's post-WWI inflation spiral — municipal treasuries across the country were deputized into producing their own currency simply because the Reichsbank could not keep pace with demand for low-denomination notes. Lübeck, with its long history as a free city and Hanseatic trading hub, had both the civic infrastructure and the local print capacity to do it properly.
Joh. Moll K.G. was a well-established Lübeck commercial printer, and designer Asmus Jessen was a local figure — the note reflects genuine civic investment rather than the rushed, generic output that characterized lesser municipal issues of the same period.