10 Heller Scharten

Scharten is a small rural commune in Upper Austria, and this 10 Heller note is a product of the Notgeld wave that swept Austrian municipalities between 1919 and 1921 — a direct consequence of the severe coin shortage following the collapse of the Habsburg monetary system. Local authorities were legally permitted to issue small-denomination emergency paper, and hundreds of communes did exactly that, most contracting regional printers to keep costs down.

Langhammer of Linz handled production for a number of Upper Austrian Notgeld issues during this period. The single signature of Johann Huemer indicates a simplified authorization structure typical of the smallest issuing bodies, where one municipal official carried full signatory responsibility.