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20 Heller
| Issuer | Gemeinde Greifenstein a/d. Donau (Municipality of Greifenstein on the Danube, Lower Austria) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain cream-white reverse enclosed within a simple dashed-and-dot decorative border. The denomination 'Heller 20 Heller' is set at the top in Gothic lettering with the numeral in large dark green type, followed by the word 'Gutschein' in bold Gothic script, and then 'der Gemeinde Greifenstein a/s. D.' A smaller-type paragraph records the municipal council resolution authorising the issue of vouchers in denominations of 10, 20, and 50 Heller, redeemable in legal tender by 31 December 1920, followed by an anti-counterfeiting warning in larger Gothic type and a validity clause requiring the municipal seal; the issue date 'Greifenstein a/d. D., am 30. Juni 1920' appears at the foot. A faint circular municipality seal impression is visible at the right. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Circular municipality seal of Greifenstein impressed on the reverse; only vouchers bearing this seal are stated to be valid. |
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| Comments |
Greifenstein is a tiny Danube village in Lower Austria, and this 1920 Heller note is a product of the postwar Notgeld wave that swept Austrian municipalities when the collapsing Habsburg monetary system left communities without adequate small change. Communes of almost any size — many with populations under a thousand — were legally permitted to issue their own emergency currency, and Greifenstein did exactly that.
Designer N. Dellware appears on a small number of Lower Austrian Notgeld issues from this period, though documentation on the individual is thin. The official municipal seal served as the primary authentication device, a telling sign of how improvised these instruments were.