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1/2 Mark
| Issuer | Magistrat der Stadt Kolberg (Notgeld, Prussian province of Pomerania) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 68 × 46 mm |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Blue guilloche underprint covers the entire face, with a central oval cartouche formed by a laurel wreath enclosing a heraldic vignette of two male supporters flanking the Kolberg city arms. The bold numeral '1/2' and the Gothic-script legend 'Eine halbe Mark' are overprinted in dark ink within the oval, with the issuing authority inscription below. A serial number and the series designation 'Serie I' appear in the lower portion outside the central cartouche. |
| Reverse lettering | 1/2 Eine halbe Mark Der Magistrat der Stadt Kolberg. Serie I |
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| Comments |
Kolberg's municipal Notgeld program began in 1917 as small-denomination coins vanished from circulation — hoarded by a public that had stopped trusting the war economy. The Magistrat issued these fractional notes under emergency authority granted to German municipalities that year, filling a gap the Reichsbank was unwilling to address at the pfennig level.
Kolberg itself — a fortified Baltic port — would later enter history for an entirely different reason: its catastrophic siege in early 1945. The 1917 notes predate that by nearly three decades, issued when the city was still a functioning Prussian resort town with a functioning civic government.