10 Heller St. Pölten, Firma Franz Pittner

Franz Pittner's 10 Heller note is a product of Austria's Kleingeldersatz crisis — the acute small-change shortage that followed the collapse of the Habsburg monetary system after 1918. With the new Austrian crown severely undersupplied in low denominations, private businesses, municipalities, and cooperatives across the country issued their own emergency scrip, known as Notgeld, to keep daily commerce moving. Pittner, a St. Pölten firm, had this note printed locally by Sommer rather than relying on the overburdened state apparatus.

The signature of Franz Pittner himself authenticates each piece, a common practice for small-issue commercial Notgeld where institutional credibility rested entirely on the issuer's local reputation.