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50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Stadt Chemnitz (City of Chemnitz) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917-1918 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Pfennigs (50 Pfennige) (0.50) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Grey-toned Notgeld note printed in dark ink throughout in a Fraktur (blackletter) typeface. At left, a decorative framed vignette contains the large numeral '50' above the word 'Pfennig' and a stylised heraldic lion device at its base, with a red serial number printed below. The right portion bears the title 'Gutschein der Stadt Chemnitz' in large Fraktur script, followed by 'Fünfzig Pfennig', validity and date inscriptions, and two manuscript facsimile signatures with printed titles beneath. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is covered entirely by a continuous repeated underprint pattern of the Chemnitz civic coat of arms — a shield bearing a heraldic lion — printed in a tonal grey-on-grey design across the full surface, serving as an anti-counterfeiting background ornament. |
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| Comments |
Chemnitz was one of the most industrially dense cities in Saxony, and by 1917 the Reichsbank's coin shortage had become severe enough that municipalities across Germany began issuing their own fractional emergency notes — Notgeld — to keep retail commerce moving. The Stadt Chemnitz 50 Pfennig falls squarely into that first wave, before the practice became collectible and the designs self-consciously decorative.
The underprint is the only security concession — modest by any standard, but consistent with wartime municipal issues where cost and speed mattered more than counterfeiting protection. Locally printed, locally spent.