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5 Mark Sparkasse
| Issuer | Städtische Sparkasse Brühl bei Köln |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Mark |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Die städt. Sparkasse Brühl bei Köln zahle gegen diesen Scheck aus unserem Konto C Guthaben an Überbringer Fünf Mark Köln, den Kreissparkasse Köln Dieser Scheck muß bis 1. Oktober 1922 eingelöst sein. FLEMMING-WISKOTT-A.-G.-GLOGAU. |
| Reverse description | Brown and blue reverse in the same scalloped border as the obverse, divided into two pictorial panels. The left panel, enclosed in a blue-ruled inner frame, presents a full-length figure of a male worker in shirtsleeves holding a tool, standing on rocky ground in allusion to local lignite mining; a lower caption identifies the operation as 'Roddergrube A.G. Brühl'. The dominant right-hand panel renders in fine line engraving an open-cast mine with a steep spoil heap, rail conveyors, and industrial buildings with smokestacks, accompanied by the patriotic verse 'Die Zeit ist hart, das Vaterland in Not, / Nur Kohle rettet, Kohle nur schafft Brot.' and the registration number 'D.R.G.M. 795679.' in the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
Städtische Sparkasse Brühl bei Köln was one of hundreds of German municipal savings banks that stepped into the currency vacuum of 1921, when chronic small-change shortages — a product of hoarding and post-war monetary instability — left everyday commerce functionally paralyzed. These Sparkassen-issued Notgeld notes were legally tolerated rather than authorized, existing in a grey zone that the Reichsbank quietly ignored because the alternative was worse.
Flemming-Wiskott in Glogau was among the busier provincial printers working this market, handling volume municipal contracts across Silesia and beyond. The Glogau facility would itself become a footnote to 20th-century displacement — the city passed to Polish administration after 1945 and was renamed Głogów.