20 Heller purple

Lausa bei Losenstein is a tiny rural commune in Upper Austria, and like hundreds of similar municipalities it issued Notgeld during the acute coin shortage that followed the First World War. These small-denomination Heller notes were a purely local stopgap — accepted at village shops and nowhere else, which is precisely why so many survived in reasonable condition: they circulated briefly, were often saved as curiosities, and were never subjected to the wear of regional trade.

The 20 Heller purple is the lower value of the two known types in this series. Jaksch/Pick JPR0506Ia documents it as a distinct issue rather than a color variant of the same denomination.