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50 Pfennig Bonifatius Series
| Issuer | Stadtrat Ohrdruf (City Council of Ohrdruf, Thuringia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
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| In circulation to | 31 December 1921 |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse carries a large full-colour narrative vignette in a medieval illustrative style, framed by Celtic interlace border panels in pink and black at left and right. The scene depicts Saint Bonifatius, rendered as a robed monk holding a book and cross, preaching to a group of Thuringian settlers — including women, children, and companions — beneath a large oak tree beside a river, with a tent being erected at right. A descriptive text band at the top reads the legend of Bonifatius's arrival in Thuringia, and the bottom caption identifies the scene as Bonifatius establishing his camp on the Ohra river in the year 723. |
| Reverse lettering | 50 PFG EINST / ALS BONIFATIUS PREDIGEND UND TAUFEND NACH THÜRINGEN KAM / GELANGTE ER AN EINEN FLUSS / DER OHARA HEISST / WO ER IN ZELTEN ÜBERNACHTETE BONIFATIUS SCHLÄGT DAS LAGER AN DER OHRA AUF – I. J. 723 – |
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| Comments |
Ohrdruf issued this Notgeld series under a peculiar local conceit: the town's connection to Saint Boniface, who is traditionally associated with the area before his eighth-century mission into Germanic territories. By 1921, German municipal authorities had considerable latitude in choosing thematic imagery for emergency currency, and Ohrdruf leaned hard into hagiography. The print run of over twelve million pieces is substantial for a Thuringian market town — suggesting these were distributed well beyond local necessity, deliberately targeting the collector trade that had developed around Notgeld by mid-1921.
Specimens that saw genuine circulation are the minority.