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50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Magistrat der Stadt Tilsit |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 50 50 030055 DIE STÄDT. SPAR- KASSE ZAHLE AUS UNSERM GUTHABEN 50PF AN ÜBER- BRINGER DIESER PLATZANWEISUNG TILSIT / 12. NOV. 1921 MAGISTRAT: RATHAUS 50 50 |
| Reverse description | Black, yellow and grey Notgeld note retaining the same corner cartouche layout with '50' numerals on a black ground and a yellow rule border. The central grey field carries a bold vignette of a cut wheel of Tilsit cheese rendered in vivid yellow, flanked symmetrically by two large black ants. Above the vignette, a rhyming verse in block capitals comments satirically on the note's purchasing power; a second couplet below references the local Tilsit cheese trade, reflecting the inflationary context of 1921. A small decorative monogram device appears centred at the bottom edge. |
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| Comments |
Tilsit notgeld from 1921 places this squarely in the second wave of German municipal emergency currency — after the acute postwar coin shortage of 1917–1920 but before hyperinflation rendered small-denomination paper meaningless by late 1922. By 1921, many towns were issuing notgeld as much for collector revenue as genuine necessity, a practice the Reichsbank actively discouraged but couldn't effectively stop.
Tilsit itself was by then the administrative center of Memelland, a territory detached from Germany under the Versailles settlement and placed under French administration in 1920 — a politically raw situation that gave local civic institutions like the Magistrat unusual prominence in daily economic life.