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50 Pfennig Bergwart
| Issuer | Artern, City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Pfennigs (50 Pfennige) (0.50) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Light blue ground divided into three horizontal registers. The upper and lower bands carry five-line stanzas of Gothic verse text in black, with the denomination '50' in roundels at each corner, flanked by the legends 'Bärch-word / en Odärn' at the top corners and 'Jut-hob-schien / 1921' at the bottom corners. The central register is occupied by a large woodcut-style vignette of the Bergwart tower — a massive cylindrical medieval keep set upon a wooded hillock — rendered in dark green and black against a dramatic radiant sunset sky in crimson and orange, with a stylised starburst motif on the tower face. |
| Reverse lettering | Bärchword en Odärn 50 Juthobschien 1921 Du Einzelmensch bleibst langer Kette Glied, Ach, Blatt und Hauch, ein Ton im Lied, Nur Wüstensandkorn, leichter Jeder Tolle, Im Gottallmeer ein Tropfen schwanker Wolle. Doch fluch dir nicht, bist ja kein nichtig Nu, Nicht Spielzeug in vergößner morscher Truh, O, eine Welt lebst du im Weltenreigen, Ein Saitenspiel ob Lärm und Schweigen, Der Allerhalter weint in dir und lacht, Wirkst Größe, Vielheit, schöpferische Macht! |
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| Comments |
Artern, a small spa and potash-mining town in Thuringia, issued this Notgeld note in 1921 as Germany's postwar small-change shortage dragged well into its third year. By this point municipal Notgeld had become a cottage industry — many towns issued deliberately collectible series to sell to hobbyists, generating revenue beyond the notes' face value. Whether Artern's series was purely utilitarian or partly aimed at the collector market is a fair question.
Adolf Forker of Leipzig was a competent regional printer active across numerous Saxon and Thuringian Notgeld commissions during this period, though not among the prestige houses like Giesecke & Devrient that handled the more elaborate pictorial series.