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40 Mark Herzogliche Sparkasse

Issuer Herzoglich Braunschweigische Sparkasse (Ducal Brunswick Savings Bank)
Year 1918
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Size 159 × 102 mm
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Obverse description Plain cream-toned card stock with a fine red hatched border framing the entire face. The issuer's title 'Herzoglich Braunschweigische Sparkasse' is set in large Gothic script across the upper portion, below a header line reading 'Diese Schuldverschreibung ist auf den Inhaber ausgestellt'. Denomination panels reading '40 M' appear at upper left and upper right, with the value expressed in words — 'vierzig Mark' — in bold red letterpress within a central framed cartouche. Series, letter, and serial number fields are printed in red, the date 'Braunschweig, den 1. Novbr. 1918' appears in blue ink, and a large circular blue official stamp of the Herzoglich Braunschweigische Sparkasse is applied at centre, accompanied by two manuscript signatures and a diagonal overprint in blue reading 'Unverzinsliches Kriegsnotgeld'.
Obverse lettering Diese Schuldverschreibung ist auf den Inhaber ausgestellt
Herzoglich Braunschweigische Sparkasse
Serie IV lit. H
Spareinlage über
vierzig Mark
ausgestellt von der Herzogl. Sparkasse Braunschweig
Braunschweig, den 1. Novbr. 1918
Unverzinsliches Kriegsnotgeld
Eingelöst ... am ... 19 ...
mit Zinsen auf ... Jahr ... Monat zu ... M
Ord.-Nr.
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Comments

The Herzoglich Braunschweigische Sparkasse was not a central bank or a commercial institution empowered to issue currency under normal circumstances — it was a savings bank. The 40 Mark denomination is itself a signal: odd-value emergency notes like this one were typically calibrated to fill gaps left by hoarded or withdrawn Reichsbank coinage and smaller Reichskassenscheine, not to replicate standard denominations. By late 1918, German municipal and regional bodies were issuing Notgeld at a pace the central authorities had largely stopped trying to regulate.

The cardboard composition is worth noting practically — these were never designed for extended handling, and the material degrades unevenly.

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