Catalog
1.5 Mark
| Issuer | Kreissparkasse Hofgeismar |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Cream and ochre ground with a bold black oval vignette at centre containing a finely drawn horse's head in profile. The district name KREIS HOFGEISMAR is split across the upper left and upper right in Gothic blackletter script, flanked by foliate oak-branch ornaments. Denomination numerals '1,50' appear in large red figures at lower left and lower right within decorative cartouches, while a payment text in Gothic script at lower left reads 'Die Kreisspar-kasse zahle gegen diesen Scheck aus meinem Guthaben an den Inhaber ℳ 1,50 Mark'; a Kontonummer panel at lower right carries the account number in black on ruled lines. |
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| Obverse lettering | Kreis Hofgeismar 1,50 Die Kreisspar-kasse zahle gegen diesen Scheck aus meinem Guthaben an den Inhaber ℳ 1,50 Mark Konto Nummer |
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Kreissparkasse Hofgeismar was a district savings institution in the Hessian town of Hofgeismar, and like hundreds of similar municipal and county-level bodies across Germany, it resorted to issuing its own Notgeld during the acute small-change shortage of the First World War and its immediate aftermath. The 1.5 Mark denomination is itself telling — fractional and awkward, it exists precisely because conventional coinage had vanished from circulation and issuers were scrambling to cover whatever gaps remained unfilled by official channels.
Gebrüder Gotthelft in Cassel was a prolific regional printer of Hessian Notgeld, responsible for numerous district and municipal issues across the area.