Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Stadt Saarlouis (City of Saarlouis) |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Printed in black letterpress on a pale green guilloche underprint, the note bears the issuer's name 'Stadt Saarlouis' in bold Gothic blackletter script across the upper field, with the denomination numeral '50' flanked by ornamental rosette vignettes at each lateral margin and 'PFENNIGE' inscribed beneath each figure. A central serial number panel rendered in red overprint occupies the middle register. The Bürgermeister's manuscript signature appears at the foot of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is executed in black letterpress on plain cream paper and carries the full redemption clause in Gothic script, pledging payment of the voucher amount on demand by the Stadtkasse Saarlouis, or at the latest six months after the conclusion of the war. The place and date of issue, 'Saarlouis, den 1. Dezember 1918', are set out on a separate line at the lower centre. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Saarlouis issued this note in 1918 as a Kriegsnotgeld — emergency municipal currency produced because the wartime drain on metal had made small-denomination coinage effectively unavailable in everyday commerce. Thousands of German towns and cities did the same, but Saarlouis had an added layer of uncertainty: the town's political future was already in question well before the Armistice, given its proximity to the Franco-German border and its overwhelmingly French-built history as a Vauban fortress town ceded to Prussia in 1815.
After 1919 the Saar territory was placed under League of Nations administration, rendering locally issued German municipal paper immediately obsolete.