Catalog
1.50 Mark
| Issuer | Kreis-Sparkasse Hofgeismar |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Multicolour Notgeld note printed in red, green, and ochre. Two decorative scroll banners across the upper half carry the issuer inscription in bold red Gothic lettering. At centre, a vignette of a church tower with green spire rises between two heraldic shields: on the left, a red cartouche bearing a cannon with ladder and wheel, and on the right, the blue-and-red striped arms of Hesse. Decorative foliage borders the composition, while a lower scroll cartouche bears the denomination '1,50 Mk' in red, flanked by account number text. The printer's imprint 'GEBR. GOTTHELFT, CASSEL' appears in the lower left margin, with the date '1922' in the lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
Hofgeismar is a small Hessian town north of Kassel, and its Kreis-Sparkasse — a district savings bank, not a central or commercial bank — was among hundreds of German municipal and local institutions forced into emergency currency issuance during the hyperinflationary spiral of the early 1920s. The 1.50 Mark denomination is distinctly odd, a product of the practical chaos of Notgeld production rather than any monetary policy logic.
Gebrüder Gotthelft was a well-established Kassel printing house responsible for a substantial volume of regional Notgeld across Hesse-Nassau. The presence of a watermark on a local emergency note of this type is worth noting — many comparable issues from smaller issuers skipped security features entirely.