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50 Pfennig

Issuer Magistrat Wettin
Year 1921
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Value 50 Pfennigs (50 Pfennige) (0.50)
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Obverse description The central vignette presents a dramatic nocturnal woodcut-style view of the medieval tower of Wettin castle, rendered in deep blue-green and black against a luminous circular moon halo. The denomination numeral "50" appears at lower right, overlaid with a small heraldic shield vignette and an artist's monogram signature. An ochre-toned letterpress panel at the foot reads "Magistrat Wettin s.S." alongside the forfeiture notice "Verfällt 1 Monat nach Abruf", while the surrounding border carries Gothic-script text running along all four margins.
Obverse lettering Er hat dereinst als Wettin die Stätte genommen / Dem »Witten« donk den Namen / und »Saaten« / nun »Stadtmann« der »ader« / Wettin / der alte Göttersitz / Verfällt 1 Monat nach Abruf. / Magistrat Wettin s.S.
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Comments

Wettin, a small town on the Saale river in Prussian Saxony, issued this note as part of the vast Notgeld wave that swept German municipalities in 1921, when chronic small-coin shortages made locally printed emergency currency not just practical but legally tolerated. The Magistrat — the municipal governing body — held direct authority to issue such notes, bypassing provincial banking structures entirely.

Wettin gives its name to the royal house that ruled Saxony for centuries and supplied monarchs to Britain, Belgium, Portugal, and Bulgaria. Whether the town's administrators found any irony in printing emergency scrip under that name went unrecorded.

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