20 Heller Dürnstein an der Donau

Dürnstein issued this 20 Heller note as part of the Notgeld wave that flooded Austria between 1919 and 1922, when the collapse of the Habsburg monetary system left municipalities scrambling to produce their own small-denomination emergency currency. The town's ruined castle — where Richard I of England was held captive in 1192–93 — made Dürnstein one of the more commercially attractive Notgeld issuers, and the relatively high print run of over twelve million reflects deliberate production for the collector market rather than genuine local need.

Collector-targeted Notgeld from this period was often never spent at all, purchased directly by dealers and philatelic agents and mailed in bulk. The paper frequently survives in mint condition for exactly that reason.