50 Pfennig - Aachen Alfred Rethel - Pattern

Aachen was among the German municipalities that scrambled to produce emergency coinage — Notgeld — after the First World War collapsed both the national currency supply and public confidence in the central government. This particular piece is a pattern, meaning it was struck for evaluation rather than circulation, which explains its survival in better condition than the issued types. Alfred Rethel, the Düsseldorf Romantic painter whose Dance of Death woodcuts brought him lasting fame, died in 1859 — his selection as a subject reflects Aachen's civic pride in regional cultural figures.