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50 Pfennig Rudelsburg
| Issuer | Bad Kösen, City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Pfennigs (50 Pfennige) (0.50) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette presents a polychrome illustration of the ruins of Rudelsburg castle, rendered in a Jugendstil-influenced letterpress style with brick-red towers rising against a blue and white clouded sky, flanked by lush green foliage; the same tower motif is repeated in smaller framed panels to the left and right. Denomination numeral '50' appears in large bold type at lower left and right corners with the abbreviation 'Pf', while a text panel below the central vignette carries the first verse of the traditional Saale song. A validity inscription and a manuscript signature of the Burgwirt run along the bottom margin, with the printer's imprint 'Druck: Eduard Giltsch-Jena' below the border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central vignette offers a sweeping aerial panorama of the Saale valley in autumnal colours — ochre, russet, and green — with the ruins of Rudelsburg and Saaleck visible on the hillside bluffs above the river; the composition is signed 'Rothaus' in the upper right corner. Flanking the central panel are two tall dark-green Art Nouveau border panels, each ornamented with a stylised red rose blossom and sinuous foliate stems. Bold red denomination numerals '50' are set at each lower corner, and the title line of the Saale song is inscribed in Gothic script across the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
Bad Kösen issued this note during the worst of the early Weimar inflation spiral, when municipal and commercial entities across Germany were printing their own emergency currency — Notgeld — to compensate for a chronic shortage of official small-denomination coinage. Eduard Giltsch in Jena was a reliable regional printer for this kind of work, producing runs for numerous Thuringian towns during the same period.
The Rudelsburg, a ruined medieval castle above the Saale valley near Bad Kösen, was already a fixture of German Romantic tourism by the time this note was printed — the imagery carried local pride more than historical weight.