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5 Pfennige
| Issuer | Magistrat der Kreisstadt Heilsberg |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
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| Size | 70 × 45 mm |
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| Obverse description | Notgeld note printed in black on cream paper with a green guilloche underprint covering the entire face, formed by repeating circular rosette patterns arranged in a decorative border and central field. The denomination numeral '5' appears in large format at upper left within a guilloche panel, with the text 'Pfennige' below it; a large ghost numeral '5' is overprinted in green across the centre. The issuing authority, validity clause, date of issue, and official circular stamp of the Magistrat Heilsberg bearing a town arms vignette are printed to the right, accompanied by two manuscript signatures. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Stadt Heilsberg. Gut für fünf Pfennige. Gültig bis 1. Januar 1918. Heilsberg, den 2. April 1917. Der Magistrat der Kreisstadt Heilsberg Magistrat Heilsberg |
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| Comments |
Heilsberg's municipal authorities issued this wartime Notgeld out of necessity — the hoarding of metal coinage during WWI left small transactions impossible across much of provincial Germany, and towns were legally permitted to fill the gap with locally printed paper. Heilsberg, a small administrative center in East Prussia, printed and issued this themselves rather than relying on a commercial printer.
The town passed to Poland under postwar boundary shifts and was renamed Lidzbark Warmiński. Notes like this one predate that transition by decades, issued when the city was solidly within the German imperial east.