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25 Pfennig
| Issuer | Kreis-Spar-Kasse zu Balkenhain (District Savings Bank of Bolkenhain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Plain typeset Notgeld note executed in black letterpress on cream paper, enclosed within a single rectangular frame with decorative corner ornaments. A ribbon-style banner in Gothic script at the top carries the validity clause, below which a ruled panel accommodates the serial number; the denomination Fünfundzwanzig Pfennig is set in large blackletter type at centre, followed by the issuing body Kreis-Spar-Kasse zu Balkenhain, the issue date 2 Juli 1920, and the authority line Der Kreis-Ausschuss with a manuscript facsimile signature. The numeral 25 and Pfennig are repeated vertically in both the left and right margins as abbreviated denomination indicators. |
|---|---|
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| Signature(s) | Dr. Knechebusch |
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| Comments |
Bolkenhain was a small Silesian town — today Bolków, Poland — and its District Savings Bank issued this 25 Pfennig note during the acute small-change shortage that paralyzed German retail commerce in 1920. Municipalities, savings banks, and even individual merchants across Germany printed their own Kleingeldersatz (small change substitute) notes because the national mint simply could not produce subsidiary coinage fast enough to meet postwar demand.
Dr. Knechebusch's signature authenticates this as an official local instrument, not a private merchant token. Silesian notgeld from this period was heavily redeemed and destroyed once the shortage eased, making survivors more common in collector hands than in the region itself.