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50 Heller Zwettl im Mühlkreis
| Issuer | Gemeinde Zwettl im Mühlkreis (Municipality of Zwettl im Mühlkreis) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Brown letterpress Notgeld coupon with an Art Nouveau floral border of intertwined foliage and berries framing the entire note. The central vignette presents a panoramic view of the township of Zwettl im Mühlkreis, with a church spire rising above clustered village buildings set against a gently rolling forested landscape. Denomination numerals '50' appear at upper left and upper right flanking the issuer inscription, with 'FÜNFZIG HELLER' in bold letterpress type along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Brown letterpress reverse with a continuous laurel and berry border enclosing three vertical panels. The central panel contains a rectangular vignette of a rural Austrian landscape with a hilltop castle or manor house amid fields and clouds; below it the validity date is inscribed, followed by a five-line legal text in German citing the municipal council resolution of 25 May 1920 and the obligation to redeem the Notgeld by 1 January 1921. The left panel bears an oval town seal of Gemeinde Zwettl above the denomination 'FÜNFZIG HELLER', while the right panel carries a decorative monogram 'W' surmounted by an eagle, also with 'FÜNFZIG HELLER' below. |
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| Comments |
Zwettl im Mühlkreis is a small market town in Upper Austria, and this 50 Heller note is a product of the Notgeld wave that swept Austrian municipalities between 1919 and 1921. The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monetary system after 1918 left local governments scrambling to fill a vacuum — coins had vanished from circulation almost entirely, hoarded or melted, and the new Austrian state was in no position to supply small change at speed.
Municipal issues like this one were technically illegal tender beyond their issuing community, redeemable only locally. Many were never presented for redemption at all, absorbed instead by collectors who had turned Notgeld into a nationwide hobby by 1920.