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50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Stadtmagistrat Wunsiedel |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Pfennigs (50 Pfennige) (0.50) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Green-grey paper with lateral leaf-spray borders in brown. A central scroll cartouche bears the denomination legend in Gothic blackletter script, flanked by two rampant lions supporting the heraldic shield of Wunsiedel — a quartered coat of arms with the letter 'W' — surmounted by a bear passant crest. Below the vignette, three lines of Gothic text state the issuing authority, validity clause, and issue date, with a manuscript signature above the printed designation of the Bürgermeister. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a pictorial vignette in brown and grey-green tones, with decorative fruit-and-scroll borders in brown at each lateral margin. The central scene shows a mounted herald on a white horse, dressed in period costume and raising a banner bearing the Wunsiedel town arms, set against a backdrop of the town's church tower and gabled rooftops rendered in fine line engraving. The large numeral '50' appears in grey-green at upper left, with 'PFENNIG' lettered beneath, and the value '50' repeated in each corner panel. |
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| Comments |
Wunsiedel's 1918 Notgeld issue belongs to the first great wave of municipal emergency currency that flooded Bavaria and the rest of Germany as coin hoarding stripped small denominations from circulation. The Stadtmagistrat — the city magistrate's office — became an unlikely issuer by necessity, authorized under wartime emergency provisions that allowed municipalities to fill the gap left by the Reichsbank's inability to supply sufficient fractional currency.
The single signature, Schippel, almost certainly represents the presiding Bürgermeister or a senior magistrate authorized to validate the issue. Wunsiedel, a small Franconian town near the Bohemian border, produced relatively modest print runs compared to larger Bavarian cities, and surviving examples with clean folds are less common than their urban counterparts.