Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Magistrat der Stadt Gräfenhainichen |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | H. Schiebel, Bitterfeld, Germany |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Brown and ochre note centred on an intaglio-style portrait bust of Paul Gerhardt set within a circular vignette, identified by the inscription below. Surrounding the portrait, decorative ribbon scrolls carry verses from the hymn 'Befiehl du deine Wege', arranged in a symmetrical pattern against a patterned geometric underprint. The lower legend records the date and birthplace of the celebrated Lutheran hymn-writer. |
| Reverse lettering | BEFIEHL DU DEINE WEGE TREUSTEN PFLEGE DES DER DEN HIMMEL LENKT PAULUS GERHARDT GEBOREN AM 12. MAERZ 1607 ZU GRAEFENHAINICHEN |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Gräfenhainichen is a small town in Saxony-Anhalt, and this 50 Pfennig note is a product of the Notgeld wave that swept German municipalities during the severe coin shortages of the World War I period and its immediate aftermath. Municipal authorities — not banks — became de facto issuers out of necessity, with town councils (Magistrate) authorizing small-denomination emergency scrip to keep local commerce moving when metal coinage had been pulled from circulation.
H. Schiebel of Bitterfeld was a regional printer serving several nearby towns during this period, which occasionally makes attribution tricky when notes lack clear issuer text.