Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Pfennig History Series - Issue 3 - 1535
| Issuer | Stadt Arnstadt (City of Arnstadt, Thuringia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Blue and red letterpress design on cream paper, enclosed within a double-ruled rectangular border. A large heraldic double-headed eagle in dark red is superimposed over the bold blue numeral '50' at centre, with 'Pfennig' inscribed below in Gothic script. The issuer's title 'Notgeld der Stadt Arnstadt' arcs across the top in blackletter lettering, flanked by decorative scroll ornaments; the year '1921' appears at the foot of the design. Validity clause 'Gültig bis Monat nach Aufruf' is lettered in blue at lower left, with a serial number and manuscript signature at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Tripartite composition in blue, red, and black on cream paper. The wide central vignette, rendered in an expressive woodcut style, illustrates a lively outdoor dance scene set in 1535, with costumed figures gathered around a column beneath dense foliage and a statue in the background. Flanking the central scene are two tall red panels, each bearing a boldly drawn allegorical figure in black and blue. At the foot of the note, the denomination '50' appears in decorative numerals within blue cartouches at each corner, while the central cartouche carries the legend '1535 / Weinerntefest am Tage / des heiligen Urban' within a guilloche-bordered panel. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Arnstadt's 50 Pfennig History Series was a notgeld issue — emergency municipal currency printed during the inflationary years when small-denomination coinage had effectively vanished from circulation. The third note in the series references 1535, a year connected to Arnstadt's Reformation history. A. Paul Weber, who both designed and printed this note, was a graphic artist and printmaker who would later become far better known for his politically charged lithographs produced under National Socialism and afterward.
The printed date of 30 April 1945 is worth pausing on — that is the day Hitler died in Berlin, and Germany was days from surrender. Whatever Weber was running through his press that morning, the war was over in all but paperwork.