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50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Gemeinde Köstritz (Municipality of Köstritz) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is framed by a bold double-rule border with ornamental asterisk cornerpieces in black and yellow. The issuing authority is announced at the top in large Gothic letterpress type reading 'NOTGELD DER GEMEINDE KOSTRITZ', with the date '1. OKTOBER 1921' at left and a manuscript Bürgermeister signature at right. The central vignette comprises three circular medallions: the left bearing a yellow heron on black ground, the centre — the largest — carrying the denomination '50 PFENNIGE' in white on black with a yellow ring, and the right bearing a yellow heraldic lion on black ground; a red serial number and series letter appear in the lower field above a two-line validity clause. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | WAS MAG BESSER SEIN- POTZ BLITZ ALS EDEL SCHWARZBIER AUS KÖSTRITZ |
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| Comments |
Köstritz notgeld from this period belongs to the second wave of municipal emergency currency — issued not during the wartime shortage of 1914–18, but in the inflationary spiral that followed defeat. By 1921, the Reichsbank was losing control of small-denomination coin circulation as hoarding intensified, and thousands of German municipalities printed their own stopgap paper. Köstritz, a small town in Thuringia best known regionally as the birthplace of Heinrich Schütz, was among hundreds of minor communities that contracted local or regional printers to fill the gap.
The series typically used thin, lightly sized paper that aged poorly. Survivors showing clean folds rather than soft creases tend to be from unissued remainder stocks rather than genuine circulation.