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| Issuer | Stadt Esens (City of Esens) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Oskar Passig, Esens |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of Esens townscape dated 1714, flanked by two value panels reading "10 Pfennig" within decorative borders. Below, serial number box at left, city arms at centre, and magistrate signature panel at right; anti-counterfeiting notice at foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain paper reverse with Gothic-script redemption text enclosed within a dot-and-rule rectangular border. Printer's imprint in small type at centre bottom beneath the frame. |
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| Comments |
Esens is a small market town in East Frisia, and like hundreds of German municipalities in 1920, it issued its own Kleingeldersatz — substitute small change — to compensate for the acute coin shortage that persisted well after the armistice. The Reichsbank's inability to mint sufficient low-denomination coinage during the inflationary transition period pushed the burden onto local authorities, many of whom contracted whatever printer was nearest.
Oskar Passig was a local Esens printer, not a specialist banknote firm. That the issuer and printer shared the same town is about as local as emergency currency gets.