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50 Pfennig Skat Series - Rote Spitzen
| Issuer | Stadt Altenburg (City of Altenburg, Thuringia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Skat-geld der Skat-Stadt Altenburg 1921 Gültig bis 1 Monat nach Aufruf. Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik vorm. Schneider & Co. Ober-Bürgermstr. |
| Reverse description | The central vignette presents the twin Romanesque red-brick towers of the Rote Spitzen (Church of St. Mary) in a bold linear illustrative style, with grey spires rising against a swirling cloud sky. Vertical columns of red heart suit symbols repeat in the flanking borders, and '50 Pf.' in Gothic lettering fills the corner cartouches. A caption below the vignette identifies the structure and records its historical founding. |
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| Comments |
Altenburg's claim to being the home of Skat — the German card game codified there in the early nineteenth century — made it natural, if not inevitable, that the city would issue Notgeld designed around the game. The Rote Spitzen series is among the most deliberately collectible of the early 1920s emergency issues: the Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik, a playing card manufacturer, printed its own municipal currency, which is an almost comically perfect convergence of subject matter and production.
Designed by the mononymous Pix, the series was issued knowing full well that collectors, not shopkeepers, would be the primary audience.