10 Heller Krieglach

Krieglach is a small market town in Styria, Austria, and like hundreds of other Austrian municipalities it issued its own emergency small-change notes — Notgeld — during and after the First World War, when coins vanished from circulation almost immediately after hostilities began. The federal government was slow to address the coin shortage, so local authorities stepped in. Most of these municipal issues were produced in tiny print runs, distributed through local shops and offices, and redeemed within the issuing commune — which means surviving examples were often saved by collectors rather than worn down through use.

Krieglach has a minor literary footnote: it is the birthplace of Peter Rosegger, the Styrian poet and novelist whose face later appeared on the Austrian 50-Schilling note.