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50 Pfennig - Neisse Schöner Brunnen
| Issuer | Stadt Neisse (City of Neisse, Silesia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
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| Reference(s) | Funck#360.3e, Men18#22898.5 |
| Obverse description | Within a raised outer rim and an inner beaded circle, the large denomination numeral '50' is prominently displayed in the central field, with the abbreviated unit 'PFG.' inscribed below. The surrounding legend 'NOTGELD DER STADT NEISSE' runs along the periphery between the outer rim and the inner beaded border, with the date '1921' at the bottom, flanked by two small floral ornaments. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Within a raised outer rim and an inner beaded border, a detailed perspective view of the ornate Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain) of Neisse is depicted in the central field, showing the elaborately decorated cast-iron canopy structure with scrollwork and a finial surmount, set against a backdrop of multi-storey urban buildings lining a town square. The legend 'SCHÖNER BRUNNEN' is inscribed in the upper arc between the beaded border and the outer rim. A maker's inscription, reading 'L. CHR. LAUER NÜRNBERG', appears in small lettering at the lower edge of the inner field. |
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| Additional information |
Neisse's 1921 notgeld issue was one of thousands of emergency municipal coinages produced during Germany's postwar economic collapse, when the central government's inability to supply adequate small change forced cities and towns to fund their own token currencies. Neisse, a prosperous Silesian cathedral town with a strong Catholic identity and a long history under Habsburg and then Prussian rule, was among the more culturally assertive issuers — the Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain) motif referencing local civic pride rather than abstract allegory.
Aluminium was chosen out of necessity; copper and other base metals were still being hoarded or recovered for industrial use. By late 1923, inflation had rendered all such pfennig-denominated tokens economically worthless before most ever circulated meaningfully.