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50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Mölln, City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | The left panel carries a woodcut-style vignette in folk-art idiom of Till Eulenspiegel standing within a red-brick Gothic arch, with a Low German verse inscription dated Anno 1350 below the figure. To the right, the denomination '50 Pfg' is set in bold yellow and red letterpress numerals against a light ground, surmounted by the Notgeld title 'Gutschein der Stadt Mölln i. Lbz' in red Gothic script. A text cartouche below states the redemption terms and expiry date of 31 December 1921, with two manuscript signature lines for 'Der Magistrat' and 'Das Stadtverordnetenkollegium'. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed on a vivid red ground framed by a bold yellow and black dashed border. A central oval medallion with a pearl-bead surround contains a multi-figure vignette of Till Eulenspiegel in jester's costume, flanked by two companion figures and surmounted by a small owl, with a teal cartouche below bearing the legend 'Till Eulenspiegel'. The denomination '50 Pfennig' appears in large white numerals at upper left and upper right, while a framed Gothic-script text panel at the foot cites a verse referencing Eulenspiegel's gravestone in the church at Mölln, with the printer's imprint at the base. |
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| Comments |
Mölln's 1921 Notgeld issue came out of the same inflationary pressure driving hundreds of German municipalities to print their own emergency fractional currency that year — Reichsbank coinage had effectively vanished from circulation, hoarded or melted down as metal values climbed. Gebrüder Borchers in Lübeck handled a substantial volume of regional Notgeld work during this period, supplying towns throughout Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg.
Mölln leaned hard into its association with Till Eulenspiegel, the medieval trickster figure said to have died there in 1350. The town had been trading on that connection for centuries before Notgeld collectors made local folklore imagery commercially attractive.