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20 Heller Schwallenbach
| Issuer | Marktgemeinde Spitz an der Donau (Market Municipality of Spitz on the Danube) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Liesl Hänzel (Malerin, Wien) |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Green-tinted Notgeld note with vertical wavy-line underprint panels flanking a central black letterpress vignette of a narrow village lane in Schwallenbach, with a Gothic church tower rising prominently against a cloudy sky and rustic stone buildings lining the path. The denomination "20 Heller" appears in bold Gothic type at lower left and right, with the locality name "Schwallenbach." centred along the bottom margin. At lower left the designer credit reads "Entwurf: Malerin Liesl Hänzel, Wien" and at lower right the printer credit "Eduard Sieger, Wien". |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain cream-toned reverse printed in black letterpress within a bold square-dot border frame. A headed panel at the top reads "WACHAUER NOTGELD. / GUTSCHEIN DER GEMEINDE SPITZ AN DER DONAU" flanked by the numeral "20" on each side. Below, a block of Gothic-script text sets out the legal guarantee and redemption conditions, followed by the anti-counterfeiting warning "NACHAHMUNG WIRD BESTRAFT" and three manuscript signatures over the printed role designations Vizebürgermeister, Bürgermeister, and 1. Geschäftsführender Gemeinderat. |
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| Comments |
Spitz an der Donau is a small wine-producing town in the Wachau valley, and like hundreds of Austrian municipalities after the First World War, it issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — to compensate for the chronic shortage of small coin that plagued the former imperial economy. The printer Eduard Sieger operated out of Vienna and handled a significant volume of Austrian municipal Notgeld commissions during this period.
The designer credit to Liesl Hänzel, identified specifically as a Malerin (painter) based in Vienna, is worth noting. Engaging a professional artist rather than a commercial illustrator was a deliberate choice some municipalities made, treating their Notgeld as a local prestige object as much as a functional instrument.