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25 Pfennig
| Issuer | Gemeinde Friedrichsbrunn (Municipality of Friedrichsbrunn) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 25 Pfennigs (25 Pfennige) (0.25) |
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| Obverse description | A central oval vignette encloses a bust portrait of Frederick the Great in three-quarter view, rendered in a woodcut-style illustrative technique and framed by a laurel wreath with a serial number above. Flanking the central portrait are two pastoral landscape vignettes set against an open sky: to the left, a figure with a child and horses ploughing a field; to the right, a group of elegantly dressed figures in an agricultural setting. The denomination '25 PF' appears in a bold circular cartouche at the lower centre, with the issuing authority 'Luftkurort Friedrichsbrunn' in Gothic lettering across the mid-field, the date 'Friedrichsbrunn, d. 15. Oktober 1921' to the lower right, and a manuscript signature of the Gemeindevorsteher (municipal chairman). |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is divided into two landscape vignettes executed in a multicolour woodcut style. The left panel presents a rocky outcrop with bare trees, captioned 'Kleine Teufelsmühle', rendered in warm ochre and black tones against a pale ground. The right panel shows a broad view of the Viktorshöhe resort area, with a timber observation tower, low buildings, and tall conifers under a cloud-streaked sky. The denomination '25 PF' appears in bold Gothic numerals in dark cartouche panels at the lower left and lower right corners, with the text 'Luftkurort Friedrichsbrunn i. Harz.' centred in the lower register. |
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| Comments |
Friedrichsbrunn is a small spa village in the Harz mountains, better known today as the retreat where Dietrich Bonhoeffer spent childhood summers than as a center of any monetary significance. This note belongs to the vast wave of municipal Kleingeldersatz — small-change substitutes — issued across Germany during 1921, when coin shortages caused by wartime metal requisitioning and postwar hoarding left everyday commerce paralyzed. Thousands of municipalities, utilities, and merchants printed their own.
The Friedrichsbrunn issue is modest even by Notgeld standards — a tourist village producing functional scrip rather than the elaborate collector-targeted series that larger towns were already printing for profit by that point in the Notgeld phenomenon.