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25 Pfennig

Issuer Stadt Altona (City of Altona)
Year 1921
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Value 25 Pfennigs (25 Pfennige) (0.25)
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Obverse description Square-format Notgeld note with a yellow-green outer border enclosing a central panel; a banner along the upper margin carries the legend "NOTGELD DER STADT", flanked by line-drawn vignettes of Gothic church spires rising above arched bases. The denomination "25 Pf." is rendered in large calligraphic script in green against a dark rectangular underprint at centre, with the city name "ALTONA" in bold block lettering across the lower panel. The issuing authority inscription "DER MAGISTRAT", place and date "ALTONA/ELBE 12. DEZ. 1921", two manuscript signatures, a serial number, and a validity notice in German script complete the face.
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Reverse description Square-format reverse printed in a vivid, illustrative style with Expressionist character, signed by the designer Clauss at lower left. The central vignette shows two stout fishermen viewed from behind, standing back-to-back with hands on hips on a mudflat; to the left a traditional sailing vessel with orange sails is moored beside a stone jetty, while a small rowing boat appears on the water to the right. A ribbon banner at top carries "NOTGELD STADT" and a corresponding lower banner bears "ALTONA", with the denomination "25 Pf." inscribed to the upper left and the printer's imprint "H. KUBE & CO. G.M.B.H." running along the right margin.
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Comments

Altona in 1921 was still an independent Prussian city — it would not be absorbed into Hamburg until 1937. Its municipal notgeld issues from this period reflect genuine local currency stress rather than the collectible-oriented "serienscheine" flooding German markets at the same time. The square format here is deliberate and unusual; most municipal notgeld of this size range ran rectangular, and the equal-sided dimensions were almost certainly a Clauss design choice rather than a printer's default.

H. Kube & Co. GmbH handled a significant volume of northern German emergency currency work during this period, though they remain less documented than the major Leipzig and Berlin firms.

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