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50 Pfennig Vorschuß- und Sparverein
| Issuer | Vorschuß- und Sparverein zu Ostheim v. d. Rhön, eingetragene Genossenschaft |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
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| Printer | Selmar Bayer, Berlin, Germany |
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| Obverse description | Tan-toned note printed in black Fraktur (Gothic) letterpress on a fine guilloche underprint. The denomination '50 Fünfzig Pfennig 50' is set in large bold type across the upper half, surmounted by the title 'Kriegs-Notgeld'. The central text block gives the promise-to-pay clause in German, the place and date of issue 'Ostheim v. d. Rhön, den 1. November 1918', and the full issuer name 'Vorschuß- u. Sparverein zu Ostheim v. d. Rhön'. Three manuscript signatures appear below the issuer name, followed by a validity clause; a decorative chain-link border frames the entire design. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in black on white paper, the reverse centres on a large oval guilloche surround enclosing a vignette of the ruined Lichtenburg castle perched on a rocky hilltop, rendered in fine letterpress. The caption 'Lichtenburg' is inscribed above the vignette within the oval. The denomination numeral '50' appears in bold at each of the four corners, with the lower two numerals inverted, against a background of closely spaced horizontal wavy-line guilloche bands that fill the entire field. |
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| Comments |
Ostheim vor der Rhön is a small Franconian market town that in 1918 found itself, like hundreds of similar communities, printing emergency scrip to compensate for the near-total disappearance of small coinage from circulation. The issuer here is a registered cooperative credit union — a Vorschuß- und Sparverein — rather than a municipality or private business, which is the more common Notgeld source. Such cooperatives had legal standing under the Genossenschaftsgesetz and could issue obligations to members, giving this note a quasi-banking character that most village scrip lacks.
Selmar Bayer of Berlin handled a substantial volume of provincial Notgeld printing during 1917–1918, working quickly and cheaply.