Catalog
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
| Issuer | Sparkasse der Stadt Lauenburg a.d. Elbe |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Pfennigs (10 Pfennige) (0.10) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Gutschein der Sparkasse der Stadt Lauenburg a.d. Elbe / Zehn Pfennig / Dieser Gutschein verliert seine Gültigkeit wenn er nicht binnen drei Monaten nach erfolgter öffentlicher Aufforderung der Sparkasse bei dieser eingeleitet wird / Sparkasse der Stadt Lauenburg a.d. Elbe |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a finely rendered etching-style vignette of the Lauenburg townscape as seen from the Elbe river, with the church spire and city silhouette stretching across the horizon beneath a dramatic clouded sky. In the foreground, two rowboats rest on the calm water, one moored to a post at the right. The warm tonal palette and fine linework give the scene a picturesque, artistic quality characteristic of Notgeld vignette printing. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Lauenburg an der Elbe issued its own emergency small-change notes in 1918 because the wartime metal shortage had stripped German circulation of nearly all low-denomination coinage. The Sparkasse — the municipal savings institution, not a commercial bank — acted as issuer under the broad Notgeld framework that allowed hundreds of German towns to plug the change gap locally. These were never intended as long-term instruments; they circulated within the town and were theoretically redeemable once coinage returned.
The DeNG reference places this in the first catalogued series for Lauenburg, variant two. Paper Notgeld at this denomination deteriorated quickly in daily use, and surviving examples in sound condition are proportionally rarer than their original print runs would suggest.