Catalog
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| Issuer | H. Käse, Hamburg |
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| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in blue on cream paper within a decorative leafy border. At centre, a circular vignette bears the legend KÄSE'S NOT-WECHSEL-GELD around the numeral 10 PFENNIG, flanked to the left by the Hamburg city arms with three towers and stars, and to the right by a portrait bust of the company owner H. Käse in hat and coat. The heading GUTSCHEIN appears at top, with the validity date along the lower margin. |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
H. Käse was a Hamburg cheese merchant — "Käse" meaning cheese — who issued this 10 Pfennig Notgeld in 1921 during the small-denomination coin shortage that plagued postwar Germany. Municipal and commercial Notgeld of this period was officially tolerated as emergency fractional currency, and tradesmen, shops, and local businesses across Germany printed millions of these small notes to make change. Broschek & Co. were a well-established Hamburg printing and publishing house, and their involvement here was entirely routine — they handled significant volumes of commercial Notgeld for local Hamburg issuers.
The watermark security feature is worth noting for a tradesman's note of this type and denomination; many comparable pieces from small private issuers dispensed with it entirely.