20 Heller Heidenreichstein

Austrian Notgeld of this type was almost always a local improvisation against the chronic small-change shortage that followed the collapse of the Habsburg monetary system. Heidenreichstein, a small market town in the Waldviertel near the Bohemian border, issued its own fractional scrip like hundreds of other municipalities in 1920 — the three signatures here, covering the vice-mayor, mayor, and a council member, reflect the bureaucratic seriousness with which even tiny communities treated what were essentially emergency tokens.

Fritz Ployer's title, Gemeinde-Rat, is the lowest of the three signatories — unusual to include a rank-and-file councillor alongside the two executive officers.