30 Heller

Pürnstein is a small settlement in Upper Austria — the kind of commune that in 1920 had no business issuing its own currency, yet did so anyway. The postwar collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monetary system left rural municipalities scrambling for small-denomination notes to replace the hoarded coins that had vanished from circulation entirely. These locally issued Notgeld pieces were a practical stopgap, authorized under emergency provisions that briefly turned every village council into a de facto monetary authority.

Kleinert's involvement is worth noting — he designed a number of Upper Austrian municipal Notgeld issues during this period, giving some of these small-town pieces a level of graphic ambition well beyond their face value. The dual signatures of both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor follow the authentication convention required to give these notes even a semblance of institutional credibility.