Catalog
50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Steinbach bei Bad Liebenstein (Thuringia), Municipality of |
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| Year | |
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| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | The upper portion of the obverse carries a central vignette in black letterpress print of a peasant woman in traditional Thuringian dress, shouldering a rake against a panoramic backdrop of the town of Steinbach nestled in a rolling valley. An orange oval cartouche in the upper left bears the validity inscription "GÜLTIG 30 TAGE NACH ABRUF," while a corresponding decorative orange rosette medallion appears at the upper right. The lower register is framed by green guilloche ornamental borders with two orange circular denomination roundels reading "50 Pf." flanking a central text panel bearing the issuer name and two manuscript facsimile signatures. |
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| Reverse lettering | In der Steinbacher Industrie Wird gearbeit wie noch nie, Was man dafür erhält; Ist aus Papier, Notgeld! 50 Pf. |
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| Comments |
Steinbach bei Bad Liebenstein is a small spa-adjacent village in the Thuringian highlands, and like hundreds of similarly modest German municipalities, it issued Notgeld during the post-WWI currency emergency when the Reichsbank could not supply sufficient small denomination coinage. These local emergency issues were ostensibly practical but quickly became collectible by design — many municipalities printed attractive series specifically to profit from collector demand, effectively a form of municipal fundraising dressed up as monetary necessity.
The GRM reference places this within the Grabowski-Mehl Notgeld catalog. Paper survival varies considerably across Thuringian municipal issues; the region saw heavy administrative disruption in 1923 during the hyperinflation period.