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20 Heller Greifenstein
| 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 |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | 31 December 1920 |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Green and beige Notgeld voucher with a fine bubble-pattern guilloche border framing the entire face. A central circular vignette presents a line-engraved view of Greifenstein Castle above the Danube valley, with the denomination numeral '20' printed in green in the upper corners. The guarantee text flanks the vignette on both sides, and three manuscript signatures appear below, attributed to the Gemeinderat, Bürgermeister, and Vizebürgermeister, with the issuing locality 'Greifenstein a/d D.' in a panel at the foot. A small designer credit 'Entwurf N. Gettinger' is noted at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Heller 20 Heller Gutschein der Gemeinde Greifenstein a/o. D. Laut Gemeinderatsbeschluß gibt die Gemeinde Greifenstein a/d. D. Gutscheine zu 10, 20 und 50 Heller aus und wird dieselben bis 31. Dez. 1920 in gesetzlichem Bargelde einlösen Die Nachahmung dieses Gutscheines wird gesetzlich bestraft Nur die mit dem Gemeindefiegel versehenen Gutscheine haben Gültigkeit Greifenstein a/d. D., am 30. Juni 1920 |
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| Comments |
Greifenstein is a village of a few hundred people clinging to a basalt outcrop above the Danube, about 25 kilometers northwest of Vienna. That a municipality this small was printing its own emergency currency in 1920 reflects just how thoroughly the postwar collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monetary system had gutted everyday commerce — coin had effectively vanished from circulation, hoarded or melted, and thousands of Austrian municipalities responded by issuing their own Notgeld to make small transactions possible at all.
N. Gettinger's design credit is unusual enough to note — most village-level Notgeld was farmed out to regional printers who supplied generic layouts. The official seal substitutes for any more sophisticated security measure, which was entirely typical of smaller issuers who lacked both the budget and the threat profile to warrant more.