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50 Pfennig History Series - Issue 1
| Issuer | Schalkau (Thuringia), City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Orange and black Notgeld note with two armoured knights in period dress standing as lateral vignettes, each holding a lance and resting a hand upon a heraldic shield — the left bearing a chevron device, the right bearing a lion passant with floral charges. At centre, the large bold numeral '50' appears within a black rectangular frame, below which the denomination legend and issuer inscription are set in Gothic letterpress script. A serial number appears at lower left and the issuing authority designation at lower right, separated by a decorative interlaced ornament on a horizontally striped underprint band. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A woodcut-style vignette occupies the central field, showing Schaumberg Castle perched atop a steep rocky hill, rendered with fine cross-hatched linework against a dramatic cloudy sky on an orange ground. The composition is framed by two vertical orange panels bearing multi-line Gothic script inscriptions running parallel to the lateral borders, one on each side of the central image. |
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| Comments |
Schalkau is a small Thuringian town that issued this six-note Pfennig series in 1921 as part of the broader Notgeld wave that swept Germany following the post-WWI coinage shortage. Municipalities of every size printed their own emergency small-change notes during this period, and many — Schalkau included — commissioned designs with explicit historical or regional themes, partly for practical circulation use and partly because the collector market for attractive Notgeld was already thriving and profitable by 1921.
The "History Series" designation and the six-part structure suggest deliberate collector appeal from the outset. Whether these saw meaningful day-to-day circulation in Schalkau's shops or went directly into envelopes destined for philatelic dealers is a question worth asking of any note in this reference group.