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50 Pfennig Skat Series - Nikolaiturm
| Issuer | Altenburg (Thuringia), City of |
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| Year | 1921 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 95 × 68 mm |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a full-length figure in 18th-century costume — red coat, blue waistcoat, white wig and breeches — rendered in bold flat-colour lithography in the Jugendstil manner, with hands on hips and legs apart to reveal the Altenburg city arms (a white-gloved hand and red rose on a striped shield) at centre-bottom. The denomination '50 Pf.' appears in Gothic blackletter in corner cartouches, with vertical borders on both sides filled with a repeating motif of red heart suit symbols. The text is arranged around the figure in black Gothic script, with validity clause 'Gültig bis 1 Monat nach Aufruf.' flanking the lower torso, and the printer's imprint running along the bottom margin. |
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| Reverse description | Central vignette of the Nikolaiturm, Altenburg's oldest and highest-situated tower, rendered in detailed pen-and-wash style lithography: a tall medieval stone tower with clock faces and a Baroque domed lantern, flanked by lower rooftop structures and a solitary tree at lower left. Vertical side borders carry a repeating motif of stylised acorn or bell ornaments in red and orange on a cream ground, within dashed inner frames. The denomination '50 Pf.' is set in Gothic blackletter in corner cartouches, and a descriptive caption in Gothic script runs across the bottom panel below the vignette. |
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| Comments |
Altenburg's claim to being the historical home of Skat — the German card game codified there in the early nineteenth century — made it an obvious candidate for a themed notgeld issue. The printer, Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik, was not a casual choice: the firm was one of Germany's principal playing card manufacturers, and having them produce this particular series gave the project an unusually tight local coherence. The Nikolaiturm note is one piece in a larger Skat-themed set, each denomination tied to the town's card-playing identity rather than issued out of any particular monetary emergency.