Catalog
1 Mark
| Issuer | Gemeindekasse Freienohl (Freiheit Freienohl im Sauerland, Prussian province of Westphalia) |
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| Year | |
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| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in dark green and black on a white paper ground with a light blue border. The heading «Notgeldschein» is rendered in large Gothic (Fraktur) script across the top, with «der Freiheit Freienohl im Sauerland» below in a combination of black and green Fraktur lettering. The lower portion carries a two-column redemption text in black Fraktur, flanking a central circular municipal seal bearing the letter «S» with the legend «SIGILLVM VRIGANDVS», while two manuscript signatures appear at the bottom alongside the serial number and the titles «Der Amtmann» and «Der Gemeindevorsteher». |
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| Obverse lettering | Notgeldschein der Freiheit Freienohl im Sauerland Die Gemeindekasse Freienohl zahlt dem Einlieferer den Wert dieses Scheines bis einen Monat nach erfolgter Aufrufung Der Amtmann: Der Gemeindevorsteher: No 05766 |
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| Comments |
Freienohl is a small village on the Ruhr river in the Sauerland, and its Gemeindekasse — the municipal treasury, not a bank — issued this note as Notgeld during the acute small-change shortage that gripped Germany in the early 1920s. Thousands of German municipalities did the same, but most were larger towns. A settlement this size producing its own emergency currency is unusual enough to mark it as genuinely local necessity rather than the collectible-oriented Serienscheine that larger cities were printing for profit by 1921–22.
Westphalian municipal Notgeld from villages under 1,000 residents is consistently underrepresented in major collections.