Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Mark overprint on 25 Pfennig
| Issuer | Stadt Düren (City of Düren) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Local banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Orange-yellow ground with a decorative border of alternating circles and vertical bars in black. The upper field carries large bold numerals '25' flanking the central text 'GUTSCHEIN ÜBER 25 PFENNIG' on a green striped band, with the denomination numerals also rendered in a decorative scroll style. Below, three lines of small Gothic text state the note's legal tender conditions and the city's redemption guarantee, flanked on either side by a red three-digit serial number. The date 'Düren, den 1. Juni 1917' appears at lower left, with a manuscript signature at centre and the title 'Oberbürgermeister' at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | STADT DÜREN 1917 GUTSCHEIN ÜBER 25 PFENNIG Dieser Gutschein wird von allen städt. Kassen in Zahlung genommen. Er verliert seine Gültigkeit einen Monat nach Aufkündigung in den hies. Zeitungen. Die Stadt Düren haftet für die Einlösung. Düren, den 1. Juni 1917 Oberbürgermeister |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Düren's municipal administration resorted to overprinting existing 25 Pfennig Notgeld stock with a 5 Mark value in 1917 — a stopgap born from the acute small-denomination coin shortage that plagued German towns throughout the middle war years. The Reichsbank had effectively stopped releasing silver and nickel coinage into circulation, forcing hundreds of municipalities to improvise their own emergency instruments. Overprinting lower-denomination notes rather than commissioning new print runs was the cheaper, faster option, and Düren was far from alone in doing it.
The threefold denomination jump makes this a particularly blunt example of wartime fiscal improvisation. Merkelbach lists three varieties under references 24–26, distinguished by minor typographic or overprint differences.