50 Heller Regau

Regau is a small market town in Upper Austria, and this 50 Heller note is one of the thousands of Notgeld issues that flooded Austria between 1919 and 1921 when small coin virtually disappeared from circulation following the collapse of the Habsburg monetary system. Municipalities, parishes, and private businesses all filled the vacuum themselves — the central government had neither the capacity nor the inclination to solve the problem quickly.

The countersignature of Pfarrer Karl Oßberger in his capacity as Deputy Mayor is worth noting: clerical figures holding civic office in rural Upper Austria was not unusual in this period, but it does appear on relatively few surviving Notgeld issues by name.