Catalog
50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Stadtgemeinderat Grünhain (City Council of Grünhain, Saxony) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in red on cream paper with a scalloped outer border enclosing a fine guilloche underprint. At centre, the town arms of Grünhain — a shield bearing fir trees — is framed by a decorative ribbon banner inscribed 'Die Stadt Grünhain', flanked by crossed feather motifs. The denomination '50 Pfennig' appears in Fraktur script at upper left and upper right, with the foundation year '1267' and issue year '1917' flanking the arms; the lower portion carries the validity clause, serial number, and a manuscript authorisation signature of the Stadtgemeinderat. |
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| Obverse lettering | 50 Pfennig 1267 1917 Die Stadt Grünhain zur Erinnerung an ihr 650 jähr. Stadtjubiläum am 3. Mai 1917 Gültig bis 30. April 1922 Der Stadtgemeinderat WIEDEMANNSCHE DRUCKEREI A.-G. SAALFELD i.THÜR |
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| Comments |
Grünhain is a small Saxon town whose notgeld issues were prompted by the acute small-change famine that gripped Germany from 1916 onward — silver and copper had been systematically pulled from circulation for war production, leaving municipalities to paper over the gap themselves. The Stadtgemeinderat's authorization of this 50 Pfennig note in 1917 was an entirely local administrative decision, coordinated through the network of municipal councils that flooded Germany with emergency scrip during this period.
Wiedemannsche Druckerei AG in Saalfeld, Thuringia, handled a number of these regional notgeld commissions. The watermarked paper was a deliberate anti-counterfeiting measure — surprisingly rigorous for a municipal issue of such modest face value in a town of Grünhain's size.