50 Heller Pürbach

A Notgeld issue from the Austrian municipality of Pürbach, almost certainly produced during the coin shortage that gripped Austria in the years immediately following the First World War. Thousands of local communities across Austria and Germany resorted to emergency small-denomination paper between roughly 1918 and 1922, when hoarding had stripped copper and nickel coins almost entirely from circulation. Pürbach's issue is among the more obscure — three signatories were required, the Bürgermeister, his deputy, and a council member, suggesting the municipality took the authorization seriously despite the modest face value.