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50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Stadt Wittenberg (City of Wittenberg) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
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| In circulation to | 5 March 1922 |
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| Obverse description | Oval vignette at left contains a bust portrait of Gustav Adolf in ornate period armour, rendered in a woodcut-style line illustration on a light ground, with a facsimile signature below. To the right, the issuer's title is set in large Gothic blackletter script across three lines, followed by a serial number line, the validity date, and the magistrate's designation with a manuscript signature. A decorative border of dashed rules frames the central field, and a right-side panel carries repeated numeral '50' devices in a stylised ornamental strip. Designer's monogram 'BHD' appears at upper right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | Aufbahrung der Leiche Gustav Adolfs am Grabe Luthers in der Schloßkirche zu Wittenberg 1632 (Translation: The laying-out of the body of Gustav Adolf at Luther's grave in the castle church in Wittenberg, 1632) |
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| Comments |
Wittenberg's 1922 Notgeld issue belongs to the peak years of German municipal emergency money, when towns competed — sometimes absurdly — to produce decorative small-denomination scrip that collectors would hoard rather than spend. The city leaned into its reformational identity, as virtually every Wittenberg issue of the period did. The obverse credits "BHD" and the reverse "Christophe" — likely separate designers or studios contracted for each face, an arrangement not uncommon in the more ambitious Notgeld commissions where artistic credit was split deliberately.
Paper Notgeld of this type was officially invalidated by late 1923 when hyperinflation rendered the denominations meaningless. Unspent examples survived in bulk precisely because collectors kept them from circulation.