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| Issuer | Westhavelländische Vereinsbank E.G.m.b.H., Rathenow |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Green guilloche underprint on white paper. Left panel bears ornate interlaced monogram 'WV' over 'R' in letterpress. Right panel carries denomination '10 Pf.' in bold type, issuer name 'Westhavelländische Vereinsbank E.G.m.b.H.', date 'Rathenow, den 1. März 1917', validity inscription 'Gültig bis 31. Dezember 1920', and two manuscript signatures. Serial number prefixed 'No.' at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection description | Oval violet ink handstamp applied to reverse bearing abbreviated issuer name and place name, with a handwritten control number in the inner oval, serving as an authentication mark. |
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| Comments |
Westhavelländische Vereinsbank was a regional cooperative bank (Genossenschaftsbank) serving the Westhavelland district around Rathenow, a town better known for its optical instruments industry than its financial institutions. This note belongs to the vast wave of privately issued Kriegsnotgeld that flooded Germany from 1916 onward as coin hoarding gutted small-denomination circulation. The cooperative banking sector issued some of the most locally specific emergency currency of the period — denominations that would never have existed outside wartime necessity.
Faber of Magdeburg handled a considerable volume of regional Notgeld work during this period. The handstamp served as the primary security and authentication control, a thin safeguard but typical of the practical constraints facing small issuers with no access to intaglio facilities.