25 Gulden

The k.k. Staats-Central-Cassa — the Imperial-Royal State Central Cash Office — issued this note in the wake of 1848's revolutionary upheaval across the Habsburg lands. The Viennese uprising, the Hungarian revolt, and the Italian campaigns simultaneously drained the treasury, forcing the Austrian state to issue paper obligations well beyond what the silver reserves could support. This 25 Gulden denomination sat at a level where it would have been meaningful currency for a middle-class household, not a merchant instrument.

Heavy overprinting and revalidation stamps appear frequently on surviving examples of this series, reflecting successive government attempts to control which notes remained legal tender as the political situation stabilized through 1849 and into the early 1850s.