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 Münster in Westfalen (City of Münster in Westphalia) |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The upper portion carries a panoramic woodcut-style vignette of the Münster city skyline as it appeared in 1570, with Gothic church spires and densely packed rooftops rendered in fine black line work on a light ground. The denomination '50' appears at lower left and 'Pf' in stylized script at lower right, flanking a central baroque cartouche with a heraldic shield supported by ornamental scrollwork, signed 'J. Dominicus' within the vignette. The date 'Münster, den 1. August 1921' and the issuing authority 'Der Magistrat' appear at lower right alongside two manuscript signatures, with the redemption notice 'Einlösungstermin: Ein Monat nach erfolgtem öffentl. Aufruf' at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | NOTGELD · DER · STADT · 1570 50 Pf Einlösungstermin: Ein Monat nach erfolgtem öffentl. Aufruf. Münster, den 1. August 1921 Der Magistrat: MÜNSTER · i/W. |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
This is Notgeld — emergency municipal currency issued during the paper money chaos that followed Germany's post-WWI economic collapse. Münster's city administration produced its own fractional notes because Reichsbank-issued small change had effectively vanished from circulation, hoarded or melted the moment metal coinage became worth more than its face value. Hundreds of German municipalities did the same, but the quality varied enormously.
The Dominicus-designed Münster series is among the more locally coherent issues, drawn on identifiable Westphalian iconography rather than the generic allegory that cheaper Notgeld printers fell back on. The reference suffix variants (.1 through .5) indicate plate or print run differences within the same face value — a detail that matters to series collectors more than to monetary historians.