50 Pfennig

Rastenberg is a small Thuringian town that, like hundreds of German municipalities in 1921, was forced into emergency currency by a crippling shortage of Reichsbank-issued small change. The inflationary spiral following the First World War made coin hoarding endemic, and municipal administrations — regardless of their resources or sophistication — were left to fill the gap themselves. Eduard Giltsch in Jena was a well-regarded regional printer whose output across Thuringian Notgeld series is consistent and identifiable, technically cleaner than many comparable municipal issues.

The sole authorizing signature is that of Vollrath, Bürgermeister, whose office bore legal responsibility for redemption — a commitment that became increasingly theoretical as hyperinflation accelerated through 1922 and 1923.