Catalog
1 Mark I. Iwersen
| Issuer | J. Iwersen, Oldenburg in Holstein |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
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| Value | 1 Mark |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Printed in blue-grey and ochre on plain paper, the obverse is arranged in a grid of bordered panels. Four corner vignettes each display a stylised numeral '1' overlaid on a geometric 'M' motif in ochre and black. The central upper panel carries the issuer inscription in bold letterpress Gothic script, while a wide ochre band across the centre contains a Low German dialect motto. The lower central panel states the redemption conditions and validity date, with the printer's imprint and the designer's name 'Wilhelm Johannsen' printed in small type along the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | Oldenburg in Holstein 1 MARK Uns War, de is good, dor wes man ni bang; Herut mit de Dahlers, besinn die nich lang. Geschäftshaus J. Iwersen |
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| Comments |
J. Iwersen was a private merchant or business issuing this note as Notgeld — the emergency small-change currency that flooded Germany between roughly 1916 and 1922, when coin metal was diverted to the war effort and its aftermath left the official monetary system unable to supply low-denomination circulation. Thousands of German towns, firms, and municipalities printed their own, and the Schleswig-Holstein region was particularly prolific. This example was printed locally by C. Fränckel Nchfg. C. Will, a firm operating in Oldenburg in Holstein itself, which is less common than the many Notgeld issues farmed out to specialist printers in Leipzig or Berlin.
Wilhelm Johannsen's design credit is an unusual detail — most merchant Notgeld carried no designer attribution at all.