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5 Pfennig Sparkasse
| Issuer | Sparkasse der Stadt Wunstorf |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 57 × 40 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Beige paper note enclosed within a decorative rope-pattern border. To the left, a vignette depicts the Wunstorf city gate — a crenellated stone gatehouse with two conical towers and an arched entrance portal — surmounted by a rampant lion passant, elements drawn from the municipal heraldic arms. To the right, the denomination 'Pfg. 5 Pfg.' and the word 'Gutschein' in Gothic blackletter are printed in bold type, with the issuer legend 'Sparkasse der Stadt Wunstorf' in two lines below a horizontal rule. |
| Reverse lettering | Gutschein Pfg. 5 Pfg. Sparkasse der Stadt Wunstorf |
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| Comments |
Wunstorf is a small town in Lower Saxony, and its municipal savings bank — the Sparkasse der Stadt Wunstorf — issued this 5 Pfennig note as a Notgeld piece, almost certainly during the acute small-change shortage that paralyzed everyday commerce in Germany between roughly 1916 and 1922. Local issuers of this type were under no obligation to redeem notes beyond their own municipality, which made them legally fragile and practically worthless outside a narrow geographic radius.
The extreme miniature format was deliberate — small denominations demanded small paper, partly to discourage counterfeiting by making reproduction fiddly, partly simple economy of material.