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25 Pfennig Handelskammer
| Issuer | Handelskammer Harburg-Elbe (Chamber of Commerce Harburg-on-Elbe) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in dark brown on a light blue-green underprint. The upper register carries two denomination panels each reading '25 PFENNIG', flanked on the left by an anchor vignette and on the right by a caduceus, both set within laurel-wreath cartouches — emblems of maritime trade and commerce. The central city arms of Harburg, a turreted castle above a lion, appears between the denomination panels. The main text field below bears the redemption notice in Gothic script, followed by the issuing authority's printed signature and a single manuscript countersignature. The lower margin displays '25 PF. Nr.' with a red serial number and '25 Pf.' repeated at right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in dark brown on a pale blue-green ground. The upper portion carries a large panoramic vignette of the port of Harburg on the Elbe, rendered in a detailed linear style and showing the arched railway bridge at left, sailing vessels, steamships, industrial smokestacks, and the city's waterfront skyline stretching across the horizon. The title inscription 'GUTSCHEIN' appears at upper left and 'PFENNIG' at upper right, with 'Über 25' centred above the scene. The lower panel, framed by crenellated castle-wall motifs, bears the issuer's name in bold Gothic lettering flanked by the numeral '25' in each corner. |
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| Comments |
Harburg-on-Elbe was an independent city until 1937, when it was absorbed into Hamburg by the Greater Hamburg Act — a reminder that this chamber of commerce was issuing its own emergency currency for a municipality that no longer exists as a legal entity. Like most Handelskammer notgeld from the 1920s inflationary period, this piece was issued to fill the gap left by a chronic shortage of small-denomination coinage, not as a speculative collectors' item, though it inevitably became one.