10 Heller Upper Austria, orange color

Upper Austria's Heller notgeld issues of 1920–1921 were a direct consequence of the postwar coin shortage that plagued the Austrian rump state after the dissolution of the Habsburg empire. The central government in Vienna couldn't supply enough small change, so the federal states and municipalities printed their own. This particular color variant — the orange — is the third and final printing of the S119 type, distinguished from the earlier red-brown and blue issues solely by ink.

The color differentiation was functional, not decorative: cashiers needed to sort denominations quickly under poor lighting conditions in busy local markets.