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20 Goldpfennig Meßamt für die Mustermessen in Leipzig
| Issuer | Meßamt für die Mustermessen in Leipzig |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 Goldpfennig (0.20) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Green note printed on paper with an intricate guilloche underprint covering the entire field. The denomination numeral '20' appears in large teal figures at all four corners, with the value in words 'Zwanzig Goldpfennig' in bold Gothic letterpress script across the centre. A serial number is printed at the top centre, with the issuing authority 'Meßamt für die Mustermessen in Leipzig' and the date 'Leipzig, den 14. November 1923' below the central text block, followed by two manuscript signatures; the printer's imprint 'Adolf Forker Leipzig' appears at the lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in teal on paper with a dense guilloche wave-pattern underprint across the entire surface. At the centre, an ornate cartouche with pointed and scalloped borders, framed by floral rosettes at the top and bottom, contains the principal text in Gothic script. The overall design is spare, relying entirely on the guilloche background and the decorative cartouche for visual structure. |
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| Comments |
The Leipzig trade fair authority — Meßamt für die Mustermessen — issued its own emergency currency in 1923 because the hyperinflationary collapse of the Reichsmark made ordinary commercial transactions at the fair essentially impossible. Denominated in Goldpfennig rather than paper marks, this note sidestepped the inflation entirely by pegging value to gold, a practice several large German institutions adopted that year to keep business functioning while the central currency disintegrated.
Adolf Forker was a Leipzig commercial printer, not a specialist banknote house — which shows in the production.