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5 Heller Freistadt
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinde Freistadt (City of Freistadt) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
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| Size | 77 × 48 mm |
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| Obverse description | Typeset Notgeld note printed in dark brown on cream paper, with the heading "Gutschein der Stadt Freistadt, O.-Ö." at top, flanked by decorative corner vignettes. The denomination "5" appears in large numerals at left and right, with "Fünf Heller" in Gothic blackletter script across the centre, below the validity inscription "Gültig nur bis 31. Oktober 1920." The lower portion carries a four-line guarantee text from the Stadtgemeinde Freistadt, followed by an anti-counterfeiting warning and two manuscript signatures above the titles "Der Vizebürgermeister" and "Der Bürgermeister." |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Gutschein der Stadt Freistadt, O.-Ö. Gültig nur bis 31. Oktober 1920. Fünf Heller Die Stadtgemeinde Freistadt haftet für die Verbindlichkeit diesen Schein in gesetzlichem Bargelde einzulösen und hat hiefür eine eigene Deckungsrücklage bestellt. Die Nachahmung dieses Scheines wird gesetzlich bestraft. Der Vizebürgermeister Der Bürgermeister |
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| Comments |
Freistadt is a walled market town in Upper Austria, and like hundreds of Austrian municipalities in 1920, it issued its own emergency small change — Notgeld — to compensate for the near-total disappearance of coins from circulation following the collapse of the Habsburg economy. The 5 Heller denomination is the lowest in this Freistadt series, which tells you something about how acute the small-coin shortage was at the street level.
E. Prietz was a local printer, not a specialist banknote house, which is typical for Austrian municipal Notgeld of this period. The Jaksc catalogue remains the primary reference for Austrian community issues that Pick's standard volumes cover only partially.