50 Heller Mautern

Mautern an der Donau, a small town on the south bank of the Danube opposite Krems in Lower Austria, issued these Heller notes as part of the vast wave of Austrian municipal notgeld that flooded the country between 1919 and 1921. The chronic coin shortage following Austria-Hungary's collapse left local governments with no practical alternative — the central monetary apparatus had disintegrated faster than replacements could be organized.

The Jaksc/Pick "b" suffix variant indicates a secondary printing or paper distinction within the series. Mautern's issues are not among the rarer municipal pieces, but complete type sets across the denominations are harder to assemble than single examples suggest.