Catalog
10 Pfennigs
| Issuer | Magistrat der Stadt Cottbus (notgeld) (Prussian province of Brandenburg) |
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| Year | |
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| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Dark brown letterpress on pink underprint. The large numeral '10' and 'Pfennig' are centred, flanked by two identical heraldic shield vignettes bearing an eagle above a castle gateway, set within ornate geometric guilloche borders. A red serial number and two manuscript signatures appear below the issuer inscription. |
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| Obverse lettering | 10 Pfennig N° Der Magistrat der Stadt Cottbus |
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| Comments |
Cottbus notgeld was issued under municipal authority during the acute coin shortage that gripped Germany from 1916 onward, when wartime metal demands stripped everyday transactions of workable small change. The Magistrat issued these fractional emergency notes to keep local commerce functional — a purely practical measure, not a commemorative one, which distinguishes early wartime notgeld from the collector-targeted Serienscheine that flooded the market after 1920.
Printed locally rather than by one of the major specialist houses, which accounts for the relatively plain production values common to Cottbus issues at this denomination.