50 Pfennig red serial number

Lötzen — now Giżycko in northeastern Poland — issued this Notgeld in the immediate aftermath of the July 1920 plebiscite that determined whether the southern districts of East Prussia would remain German or join the newly reconstituted Polish state. The vote went heavily for Germany, but the political anxiety surrounding that period drove municipalities throughout the region to issue emergency small-change notes as coin hoarding stripped everyday transactions bare.

Carl Flemming & T. C. Wiskott in Glogau handled a substantial volume of East Prussian municipal Notgeld during this period, and the red serial number variant (814.1a) is catalogued separately from the black, indicating a distinct print run — not a mere ink substitution.