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50 Heller Mariazell
| Issuer | Marktgemeinde Mariazell (Market Town of Mariazell) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
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| Currency | Krone (1918-1921) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in olive-green and red. A red vertical panel at left bears the denomination numeral '50' above a vignette of the Mariazell Madonna, with the validity text and date printed vertically alongside. The main field carries the issuer's name 'Marktgemeinde Mariazell' in Gothic blackletter at top, followed by the denomination 'Gutschein über Fünfzig Heller' in large ornate script, beneath which a three-line liability clause appears in smaller text. Below, three facsimile signature lines are printed for the Bürgermeister and two Vizebürgermeister, above a detailed engraved panoramic townscape vignette of Mariazell with the basilica prominent at centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in olive-green and carries a large central vignette illustrating a historical scene of Mariazell in the year 1157, with a mounted bishop and a kneeling figure in a rocky wooded landscape, enclosed within a decorative scroll-pattern border. The caption 'Mariazell im Jahre 1157' appears in a cartouche at the top of the vignette. Below, the denomination numeral '50' is set in bold at centre, flanked by two text blocks: at left, the total issuance clause stating notes up to 80,000 Kronen were issued, and at right, the redemption notice referencing the G.R.B. of 8 June 1920 and the expiry date of 30 September 1920. |
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| Comments |
Mariazell is Austria's most significant Catholic pilgrimage site, and the town's decision to issue its own emergency money in 1920 was entirely practical — postwar coin shortages had made small-denomination transactions nearly impossible across much of Austria, and hundreds of municipalities responded by printing their own Notgeld. The Marktgemeinde commissioned Frietzel in Steyr to handle production, a local press rather than one of the Vienna specialists, which gives this note a regional character distinct from the more elaborate Notgeld produced for collector markets.
By 1920, some Austrian Notgeld was being printed speculatively for sale to collectors rather than genuine circulation. Whether Mariazell's issue saw real transactional use is the more interesting question.