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50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Stadtkasse Bensheim (City of Bensheim) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Buff-toned Notgeld note printed by letterpress, with a decorative border of interlocking chain motifs and circular corner medallions each bearing the numeral '50'. The denomination 'Fünfzig Pfennig' is set in large Gothic script across the centre field, beneath which a serial number appears, followed by a multi-line redemption text citing the Stadtkasse Bensheim and a validity notice to be announced in the two Bensheim newspapers. The note is dated 'Bensheim, den 31. Dezember 1920' with the Bürgermeister's facsimile signature at lower right, while the side borders carry the repeated legend 'einig' and the word 'Geld' runs along the top margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in a bold woodcut-style letterpress technique and divided into two arched pictorial panels: the left arch, inscribed '1320', contains a mounted medieval knight in armour before a historic townscape, while the right arch, inscribed '1920', presents a motor vehicle and a steam locomotive crossing a viaduct, juxtaposing the city's medieval origins with its early-twentieth-century industrial development. An ornate interlaced Celtic-style border frames the entire composition. A lower central cartouche in Gothic script reads 'Kreisstadt Bensheim', flanked by two heraldic shields — a wheel at left and a rampant lion at right. |
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| Comments |
Bensheim's 1920 Notgeld issue belongs to the massive wave of municipal emergency currency that flooded Germany as small-denomination coins disappeared from circulation — hoarded, melted, or simply not produced in sufficient quantities by a mint system overwhelmed by postwar disorder. The Stadtkasse, the city treasury itself rather than a private bank, issued directly, which was common for smaller Hessian towns with no local banking infrastructure capable of handling the printing contracts.
The DeNG 6#B20 reference places this within the sixth district grouping of the standard Deutsches Notgeld catalog. Bensheim issued multiple denominations in this series; the 50 Pfennig was among the most practically useful for daily transactions.