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50 Heller Gresten
| Issuer | Marktgemeinde Gresten (Market Town of Gresten) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Hellers (0.50) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in dark violet on cream paper, the reverse is framed by a plain double-line border enclosing a central decorative composition. A scrolled ribbon banner at the top carries the inscription 'Marktgemeinde Gresten.' in Gothic script. The central vignette presents the town's heraldic shield, showing a crowned figure flanked by two fortified towers, with the denomination numeral '50' and 'Heller' rendered in large bold type on both the left and right sides of the shield. Below the vignette, an anti-counterfeiting warning and the validity date are printed in two lines. |
| Reverse lettering | Marktgemeinde Gresten. 50 Heller Nachahmung wird gesetzlich bestraft. Gültig bis 31. Dezember 1920. |
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| Comments |
Gresten is a small market town in Lower Austria, and like hundreds of comparable municipalities, it issued Notgeld during the acute coin shortage that developed in Austria from 1916 onward. The 50 Heller denomination was among the most commonly needed for everyday transactions once metallic coinage effectively vanished from circulation — copper and nickel had been requisitioned for war production, and the imperial government was slow to provide adequate paper substitutes at the small end of the scale.
Municipal issues like this one had no formal backing beyond local trust. Redemption was theoretically guaranteed by the issuing commune, though in practice many were never presented for exchange.