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 Luther Jubilee Series
| Issuer | Eisenach (Thuringia), City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Pfennigs (50 Pfennige) (0.50) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| 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 | The upper portion carries a large heraldic vignette of the Eisenach city crest — a haloed saint in armour holding a banner and shield bearing a red cross — flanked on the left by a woodcut view of the Wartburg castle on its wooded hillside and on the right by a view of the Eisenach town centre with church spires, the year 1521 split across the lower corners of the vignette. Below, a Gothic-script text panel records the commemoration of Luther's arrival at the Wartburg on 4 May 1521, with the validity date and the denomination 'Fünfzig Pfennig' repeated in red at lower left and right. Three facsimile signatures of the Oberbürgermeister, Stadtrat und Kämmerer, and Stadtrat und Geheimer Rat appear above their respective printed title lines, with the printer's imprint at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The entire reverse is occupied by a finely detailed woodcut-style panoramic vignette of Eisenach as it appeared in the early modern period, with the Wartburg visible on the hill to the right, church towers and densely packed gabled rooftops spread across the middle ground, and a river with a boat in the foreground. The denomination '50 Pf.' appears in large red Gothic numerals at upper left and right, with the title 'Lütherfeier 1921 in Eisenach' centred in a cartouche at the top. A caption in Gothic script runs along the bottom margin below a red rule. |
| 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 |
Issued in 1921 to mark the 400th anniversary of Luther's appearance before the Diet of Worms, this note belongs to the flood of Notgeld that German municipalities weaponized as collectible souvenirs during the early Weimar inflation years. Eisenach had a direct claim on the Luther connection — the Wartburg castle above the city is where Luther translated the New Testament into German while in hiding, 1521–1522. The jubilee timing was deliberate, and these notes circulated as much through collectors' albums as through actual commerce.
The handmade paper substrate, with watermark security, is unusual for municipal Notgeld of this period and points to a higher production specification than the typical printed cardstock issues. J. Adolf Schwarz in Lindenberg im Allgäu produced several prestige Notgeld series in this format.