50 Heller Loich

Loich is a village in Lower Austria with a population that has never exceeded a few hundred souls, which makes this Heller note one of the more obscure products of the Austrian Notgeld wave that flooded the country between 1919 and 1921. Municipal authorities across Austria issued these emergency fractional notes because coin shortages after the collapse of the Habsburg economy left small-denomination metal currency essentially unavailable for everyday commerce. Loich was simply doing what thousands of other Gemeinden were doing — filling a gap the central government could not.

The printer, Redinger of Mariazell, handled Notgeld commissions for several small communities in the region. The designer credit to J. v. Schönbrunner is worth noting — the "v." suggests a noble particle, unusual for a provincial print job of this type.