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50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Der Rat der Stadt Grabow |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Orange and purple notgeld note with a central vignette of the Grabow municipal coat of arms rendered as an elaborate cartouche, surmounted by a crouching figure and flanked by scrolling ribbon banners bearing inscription. The denomination '50 Pf.' appears in large script at the base of the cartouche against a white ground. Below the main design, two facsimile signatures appear at left and right, identified by the titles 'Bürgermeister' and 'Stadtsekretär' respectively, with the issuing authority 'DER RAT DER STADT GRABOW' centred between them. The border inscription running vertically on both sides and across the top states the note's validity condition and expiry date. |
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| Reverse description | Purple and white note with a bold spiral-pattern underprint border enclosing a central rectangular vignette of a panoramic townscape view of Grabow, rendered in fine letterpress line engraving and showing the church steeple, rooftops, industrial chimneys with smoke, and a river or canal in the foreground. The large denomination numeral '50' and the inscription 'Pf. REUTERGELD' appear above the vignette in decorative Gothic script. The issuing locality 'DER STADT GRABOW' is inscribed at the foot of the note in bold block lettering. |
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| Comments |
Grabow, a small town on the Elde in Mecklenburg, issued notgeld like hundreds of German municipalities during the post-WWI currency chaos. These local emergency issues were produced outside the Reichsbank system entirely, authorized at the municipal level when small-denomination coins simply disappeared from circulation — hoarded, melted, or never minted in sufficient quantity to meet daily demand.
The Rat der Stadt Grabow series is not among the heavily documented Mecklenburg issues, which makes provenance tracing difficult. Collector demand for small-town Mecklenburg notgeld has always been modest compared to the elaborately printed series from larger cities.