Esens is a small market town in East Frisia, and like hundreds of German municipalities it issued Notgeld during the acute coin shortage that followed the First World War. The Magistrat series was a local administrative stopgap — these fractional notes circulated among townspeople in lieu of small change that had been hoarded or melted down. Production was typically handled by regional printers with no particular security apparatus, which is why the serial number alone constitutes the entire anti-counterfeiting provision.
East Frisian Notgeld from smaller Magistrat issuers was rarely printed in large runs, and casual disposal after currency stabilization in 1923 accounts for most attrition.
Esens is a small market town in East Frisia, and like hundreds of German municipalities it issued Notgeld during the acute coin shortage that followed the First World War. The Magistrat series was a local administrative stopgap — these fractional notes circulated among townspeople in lieu of small change that had been hoarded or melted down. Production was typically handled by regional printers with no particular security apparatus, which is why the serial number alone constitutes the entire anti-counterfeiting provision.
East Frisian Notgeld from smaller Magistrat issuers was rarely printed in large runs, and casual disposal after currency stabilization in 1923 accounts for most attrition.