Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
25 Pfennig
| Issuer | Magistrat der Stadt Wernigerode |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 25 Pfennigs (25 Pfennige) (0.25) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in a warm ochre and red multicolour scheme with a decorative illustrated border. At centre, the municipal coat of arms of Wernigerode — a red crenellated tower over a silver fish on a shield — is framed by two ornate columnar pillars, each flanked by carved grotesque figures and smaller costumed attendants in a folk-art style. The denomination numeral '25' appears in large red figures at lower left and right, with the date of issue '20.12.20' and serial number printed in the lower panel alongside the issuing authority signature line. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is rendered in a dark night-sky background scattered with gold star motifs, creating a dramatic pictorial vignette. A green hillside dominates the central field, upon which a group of witches on broomsticks ascend toward the Brocken summit — the highest peak of the Harz mountains — with a building complex and a blazing fire visible at the top, evoking the traditional Walpurgis Night legend. The denomination '25 PF' is printed in bold red numerals at upper left and right, with the place name rendered in decorative script along the lower margin. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Wernigerode's 1921 Kleingeldscheine series was a direct response to the acute coin shortage gripping Germany in the early Weimar years — federal minting capacity simply could not keep pace with inflation-driven hoarding of metal coinage. Municipal authorities across Germany were legally permitted to fill the gap, and hundreds of towns did exactly that.
Wernigerode, a small Harz market town, printed its emergency fractional notes through local arrangement rather than a major commercial printer — which is why condition variation across surviving examples tends to be significant. The paper stock used in many Harz-region Notgeld issues of this period was not commercial-grade.