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20 Pfennigs
| Issuer | Magistrat der Stadt Cottbus |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Blue-grey notgeld printed on plain paper with the denomination numeral 20 in all four corners and large central lettering reading "Zwanzig Pfennig" over a fine guilloche underprint. A rectangular cartouche at centre carries the redemption clause text. The overall design is typographic with no pictorial vignette. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 20 Pfennig N°438456 Der Magistrat der Stadt Cottbus |
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| Comments |
Cottbus issued this Kleingeldersatz note in 1918 as small-denomination coinage disappeared almost entirely from German circulation — hoarded, melted, or consumed by wartime metal demands. Municipal authorities across Germany were legally permitted to issue these emergency paper substitutes (Notgeld) to keep retail trade functioning, and Cottbus was one of hundreds of towns that did so that year.
The 20 Pfennig denomination is among the more perishable of the wartime municipal issues — heavily handled in everyday transactions and rarely set aside by contemporaries who saw no reason to save something worth less than a postage stamp.