10 Heller Kapelln

One of thousands of Austrian Notgeld issues produced by local merchants and municipalities during the severe coin shortage of 1920–1921, this 10 Heller piece was authorized by Hans Kaiser, a private tradesman rather than a municipal body — meaning it functioned essentially as a store token backed by his personal credit. The printer, Buchdruckerei Herzogenburg, was a small regional press serving Lower Austria, and its output for these emergency issues was entirely utilitarian.

Kapelln an der Perschling is a small market town in Lower Austria. That a single merchant could issue circulating paper at this scale reflects how completely the Habsburg monetary infrastructure had collapsed after 1918.