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50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Stadt Zell im Wiesental (City of Zell im Wiesental) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black and gold on a cream ground, with a wide dark border filled with elaborate scrollwork and interlaced ornamental bands. At the upper centre, within a cartouche, appears the issuer inscription in Gothic script; flanking it in the upper corners are two small vignettes of medieval jesters or costumed figures. The denomination 'Fünfzig Pfennig' is rendered in bold, decorative Fraktur letterpress across the centre, with a zigzag geometric underprint in gold extending across the field; below the denomination appear the place and date of issue, a manuscript municipal signature, and a validity clause in smaller Gothic type. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a large central vignette in orange and black, rendered in an expressive woodcut-style illustration signed 'R. Specht' at the lower left, showing a traditional Black Forest farmhouse with a broad thatched roof set against a mountain backdrop, framed by tall conifers and a rustic wooden fence. The denomination numeral '50' appears in gold within teal diamond cartouches at each upper corner, flanked by vertical decorative side borders in green and gold with stylised leaf and seed motifs. A solid black panel at the foot bears the issuer name in bold gold Gothic script. |
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| Comments |
Zell im Wiesental is a small textile town in the Black Forest, and like hundreds of German municipalities in 1921, it issued its own Kleingeldersatz — small change substitutes — to address the chronic coin shortage that plagued the early Weimar Republic. These municipal notes were not sanctioned by the Reichsbank but were tolerated as a practical necessity. Most were redeemed and destroyed within months of issue, which is why surviving examples from minor towns like Zell are genuinely difficult to locate.
The designer credit to R. Specht is notable — local Notgeld commissioners occasionally hired regional artists, and the Black Forest series produced by smaller Baden towns tends to show more craft than the mass-produced emergency issues from larger cities.