50 Heller Zell am See

Austrian Notgeld at its most local — this 50 Heller note was issued by the market municipality of Zell am See itself, printed by a press operating within the town. J. Sechor was a local commercial printer, not a banknote specialist, and the production reflects that: these emergency issues were produced on whatever stock and equipment were available, with no pretense of security printing.

By 1920 the Austro-Hungarian krone had been in freefall since the armistice, and hundreds of Austrian municipalities were issuing their own Notgeld to address the chronic shortage of small change. Zell am See was one of thousands doing exactly this.