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20 Pfennig
| Issuer | Magistrat der Residenzstadt Sondershausen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Dark blue-grey letterpress on buff paper with a decorative outer border. The central vignette presents a view of Sondershausen Palace framed by an arched colonnade, with trees and smoke rising in the background. To the left, a wreath encloses the numeral '20 Pf.' with the date '1. Okt.' below; to the right, the municipal coat of arms bearing a lion appears alongside the year '1918', with the issuing authority 'Der Magistrat' and a manuscript signature beneath; the serial number is printed in red at lower left. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | Nachahmung dieses Gutscheins wird strafrechtlich verfolgt. Scheine, bei denen die Nummer ganz oder teilweise fehlt, werden nicht eingelöst. 20 Pfg. FÜRSTLICHE RESIDENZ SONDERSH AUSEN 20 Pfg. Dieser Gutschein verliert seine Gültigkeit, wenn er nicht innerhalb 3 Monaten nach erfolgter Aufforderung des Magistrats zur Einlösung bei der Stadtkasse vorgelegt wird. |
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| Comments |
Sondershausen was the capital of the tiny Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, which had ceased to exist as a sovereign state just weeks before this note was likely put into circulation — Prince Karl Günther abdicated in November 1918 as the German monarchies collapsed in sequence. The Magistrat, now administering a former royal residence town stripped of its princely house, was simultaneously dealing with a coin shortage so acute that municipalities across Germany were printing their own fractional Notgeld by the millions.
Schedensack was a local Sondershausen printer — the note never left town in any meaningful sense, produced for and spent among the same population that had just watched its centuries-old ruling dynasty evaporate.