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3 Pfennig v. Bodelschwinghsche Anstalten Bethel
| Issuer | v. Bodelschwinghsche Anstalten Bethel |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Single-colour letterpress notgeld on plain paper, printed in black. The central vignette consists of a large circle enclosing a triangle, within which the bold numeral '3' is set; flanking the central motif are two small pastoral vignettes — a rural scene with figures and trees to the left, and a multi-storey institutional building with figures to the right. A decorative border of interlocking chain-link pattern frames the entire note, with small triangular corner ornaments each bearing the numeral '3'. The issuer's title is printed in ornate Fraktur script across the upper portion of the note, and the denomination text runs along the lower register. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Gutschein der Hauptkassen-Verwaltung Bethel b. Bfld. Für Drei Pfennige 3 |
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| Comments |
Bethel, the diaconal institution founded outside Bielefeld in 1867, operated as a largely self-contained community for people with epilepsy and other disabilities. At its peak it housed tens of thousands of residents and staff across its own farms, workshops, bakeries, and tradesmen — enough economic activity to justify an internal scrip system that functioned as a substitute currency within the institution's grounds. These Pfennig notes are products of that closed economy, not emergency money in the conventional wartime or inflationary sense.
The theological convictions of Friedrich von Bodelschwingh the Elder, and later his son, shaped Bethel's fierce institutional independence — which extended to managing its own medium of exchange rather than relying on external monetary supply.