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50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Stadt Köln (City of Cologne) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse, also on grey paper, is divided into three vertical panels within a dashed black outer frame. The central panel carries a black vignette of a Cologne carnival figure — a drummer in traditional Napoleonic-era costume standing before a Gothic arcade — with the year '1922' in red beneath. Each flanking panel contains the denomination '50 Pf.' in large black Gothic numerals over a red guilloche underprint incorporating repeated Cologne heraldic shields, with 'Stadt' and 'Köln' in Gothic lettering at the upper corners. |
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| Signature(s) | Konrad Adenauer |
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| Comments |
Cologne issued this Notgeld note during the hyperinflationary spiral that made Reichsbank currency functionally useless for small transactions. What makes this piece genuinely notable is the signature: Konrad Adenauer was serving as Oberbürgermeister of Cologne at the time and signed municipal emergency money in that capacity — decades before his chancellorship. He held that post from 1917 until his forced removal by the Nazis in 1933, and again briefly in 1945 before the British dismissed him.
J. P. Bachem was a well-established Cologne Catholic press, an unusual but not unprecedented choice for municipal fiscal printing.