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20 Heller Melk
| Issuer | Turnrat Melk |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
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| Reference(s) | Jaksc/Pick#JPR0607a-20 |
| Obverse description | The left portion of the obverse is occupied by a triptych vignette in dark blue letterpress, with a male figure in athletic attire at left, a central view of Melk Abbey (Stift Melk) perched on its rocky promontory above the town inscription 'Melk an der Donau' with a heraldic eagle below, and a female figure in traditional Austrian dress at right. To the right of the vignette, the denomination is rendered in bold blackletter script as 'Gutschein über Zwanzig 20 Heller' alongside the validity clause, issuance date 'Melk, im Juni 1920', two manuscript signatures on behalf of the Turnrat, and an anti-counterfeiting warning. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Gutschein über Zwanzig 20 Heller Giltig bis 30. September 1920 Die Unterzeichneten haften für die Einlösung dieses Gutscheines in gesehl. Bargelde Für den Turnrat: Melk, im Juni 1920 Melk an der Donau Die Nachahmung dieses Scheines wird gesetzlich bestraft! |
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| Comments |
Melk's Turnrat — the local gymnastics association — issued this 20 Heller note in 1920 as part of Austria's nationwide Notgeld wave, when chronic coin shortages forced municipalities, businesses, and civic organizations to produce their own small-denomination emergency money. The fact that a gymnastics club held sufficient community standing to issue circulating currency says something pointed about the institutional vacuum left by the collapse of the Habsburg administration.
Collector interest in Austrian Notgeld drove many issuers to produce deliberately attractive notes in limited runs, making it genuinely difficult to distinguish pieces intended for circulation from those printed purely for the philatelic trade.