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3 Mark Sparkasse
| Issuer | Städtische Sparkasse Insterburg |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 90 × 60 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | die städtische Sparkasse Insterburg Zahle gegen diesen Scheck aus meinem Guthaben an den Inhaber Drei Mark Insterburg, 3 Mark Konto P FLEMMING-WISKOTT A.-G. GLOGAU |
| Reverse description | The reverse is arranged in three vertical panels framed by a dark green outer border. The left and right panels contain dense Gothic blackletter text in red-ruled columns describing carved figures on the eight pillars of the Lutherkirche zu Insterburg, referencing sculptor Isaak Awald of Königsberg (1644) and a painted portrait by Michael Zeigermann (1653). The central panel presents an elaborate baroque architectural vignette of a pulpit or monument surmounted by a column, with a central oval medallion in a dark crosshatched field enclosed by an ornate gilt cartouche bearing a cherub at the top and a grotesque mask at the base, encircled by a cursive biblical inscription; denomination cartouches reading '3 Mark' on scroll banners appear at upper left and right. The registration number 'D.R.G.M. 795679' is printed in small type beneath the lower border. |
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| Comments |
Städtische Sparkasse Insterburg was the municipal savings institution of Insterburg, a market town in East Prussia — today Chernyakhovsk, Russia. This small-denomination notgeld was a local emergency necessity, not a banking instrument in any conventional sense. The collapse of Imperial Germany's currency infrastructure in the immediate postwar period forced hundreds of German municipalities to print their own fractional notes simply to keep retail trade moving.
Flemming & Wiskott in Glogau were a reliable provincial printer for this type of work, handling notgeld commissions across Silesia and beyond during the 1918–1922 period.