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| Issuer | Stadt Wismar (City of Wismar) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Light blue note with a scalloped black border framing the entire design. A stylised architectural canopy or gate vignette occupies the centre, enclosing a pink rectangular panel bearing a Low German (Plattdeutsch) dialect verse in blackletter script. The denomination '25' appears in large bold numerals at lower left, with the abbreviation 'PF' at lower right. Four decorative star ornaments are placed symmetrically in the corners of the field. At the foot of the note, a letterpress inscription reads 'Der Rat der Seestadt Wismar:' followed by three manuscript facsimile signatures. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | STADT WISMAR 25 Pf. REUTER GELD |
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| Comments |
Wismar's 1922 Notgeld issue belongs to the second wave of German municipal emergency money — not the colorful collector-oriented Serienscheine of 1920–21, but the more utilitarian inflationary stop-gaps issued as the Reichsmark began its terminal slide. By mid-1922, coin shortages and accelerating inflation had made small denominations practically useless in metal form, pushing hundreds of German municipalities to print their own fractional paper. Wismar, a Hanseatic port city on the Baltic with a modest industrial base, was one of dozens of Mecklenburg towns to do so.
Local printing of this kind was common enough that quality control varied enormously from town to town. Wismar's issues were printed within the city itself rather than contracted to the specialist firms — Giesecke & Devrient, Reichsdruckerei — that handled higher-denomination emergency notes.