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50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Amtssparkasse zu Bochum |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Notgeld voucher (Gutschein) printed in teal and black on plain paper, with a guilloche-patterned central panel flanked by two rectangular denomination cartouches each bearing the numeral '50' above the word 'Pfennig' in teal. The centre carries the text 'Gutschein über Fünfzig Pfennig' in Gothic blackletter script, with the issuing authority 'Amtssparkasse zu Bochum' below, and a circular cancellation stamp partially visible at centre. Two manuscript signatures appear along the lower portion of the note. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | BOCHUM Gültig nur für den Land- und Stadtkreis Bochum bis zum 31. Dezbr. 1917. Bochum, 1. April 1917. Amtssparkasse zu Bochum N° 06116 |
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| Comments |
German municipal Notgeld of this period wasn't issued on a whim — by 1917, the Reichsbank's coin melting program and wartime metal shortages had so thoroughly drained small change from circulation that towns and savings banks across Germany were legally compelled to fill the gap themselves. The Amtssparkasse zu Bochum, a municipal savings institution serving the industrial Ruhr, was among hundreds of such bodies that stepped into the void.
Bochum's industrial output — coal and steel, overwhelmingly — made its local economy particularly cash-hungry at the transactional level, which likely accelerated how quickly small denomination notes became necessary here.