20 Heller Mariazell

Mariazell issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — like hundreds of other Austrian municipalities scrambling to address the chronic coin shortage that persisted well after the First World War ended. The national government simply could not produce small-denomination coinage fast enough to meet demand, and local authorities filled the gap with paper scrip of dubious but practical authority.

Mariazell's status as Austria's most important pilgrimage site gave its Notgeld unusual circulation reach — visitors passing through carried these notes out of town, which is why they turn up in collections far removed from Styria.