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50 Pfennig
| Issuer | City of Geisa (Thuringia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| 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 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The full reverse is occupied by a large landscape vignette in green tones, rendered in a detailed woodcut-style illustrative technique, showing a panoramic view of the town of Geisa as seen from the Schleidsberg hill, with church steeples, rooftops, surrounding fields, trees and rolling hills extending to the horizon under a cloudy sky. Denomination numerals '50 Pfennig' in red appear in the upper left and upper right corners above the vignette. A lower text panel, flanked by two edelweiss flower ornaments, carries a two-line verse inscription in Gothic script. |
| Reverse lettering | 50 Pfennig 50 Pfennig Und wenn dereinst ich todeswund, abtu die Erdenqual Dann führet Freunde mich zur Stund, in mein geliebtes Tal. (Translation: And when one day I am mortally wounded, put away the torment of earth, Then lead me, friends, at that hour, to my beloved valley.) |
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| Comments |
Geisa is a small town in the Rhön region, and like hundreds of German municipalities in 1921, it issued its own notgeld to plug the chronic shortage of small change during the post-WWI economic disruption. What lifts this particular piece above the routine is its designer: Heinz Schiestl was a Würzburg-based artist with a strong reputation for woodcut-style illustration and religious graphic work — an unusual choice for municipal emergency currency, and one that gave the Geisa series a distinctly crafted character rather than the workaday typography common to most town-issued pfennig notes.
J. A. Schwarz in Lindenberg printed notgeld for numerous issuers across southern Germany during this period, a reliable regional press rather than one of the major specialist houses.