Catalog
50 Pfennig - Lette Bernh. Cordes
| Issuer | Bernh. Cordes (merchant/issuer), Lette bei Oelde, Bezirk Minden |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 1.6 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse presents a plain, unadorned field with the large bold numeral '50' prominently centered, occupying most of the available space. The design is contained within a beaded (pearl) border running close to the plain outer rim, with no additional legends, devices, or ornaments present. The stark simplicity of this face contrasts with the inscribed obverse, a common stylistic feature of privately issued German emergency coinage (Notgeld) from the inflationary period of the early 1920s. |
| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
This is a piece of German Notgeld — emergency money issued privately during the acute coin shortage that followed World War I. Lette is a small village near Oelde in Westphalia, and Bernhard Cordes was almost certainly a local merchant or shopkeeper who issued these zinc tokens to make change when official coinage had effectively vanished from circulation by 1918–1920. Zinc was the fallback material of necessity; copper and nickel had been consumed by the war effort years earlier.
The Mennicus reference numbers suggest two catalogued varieties exist for this type.