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50 Pfennigs
| Issuer | Magistrat der Stadt Nikolai (Mikołów), Upper Silesia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Gutschein der Stadt Nikolai in Oberschlesien über 50 deutsche Reichspfennige. Neue St. Adalbert-Kirche erbaut im Jahre 1861. Dieser Gutschein im Werte von fünfzig Pfennige ist in den Verkehr gebracht worden zum Andenken an die Volksabstimmung am 20. März 1921 zum Zwecke der Entscheidung der Zugehörigkeit Oberschlesiens zu Polen oder Deutschland. Nikolai, den 20. März 1921. Der Magistrat Nach Vorlegung dieses Gutscheines zahlt die Stadtkasse den Wert desselben in Baar. MAGISTRAT DER STADT NIKOLAI O.S. K. MIARKA G.M.B.H. NIKOLAI O.S. |
| Reverse description | Polish-language reverse of identical format and colour scheme, with the denomination '50' at each corner within the same decorative border. The left vignette shows the Stary kościół Św. Wojciecha (Old St. Adalbert Church), captioned 'Stary kościół Św. Wojciecha z czternastego stulecia', set within a ruled frame. The right panel carries a parallel commemorative text in Polish Gothic script commemorating the plebiscite of 20 March 1921, dated 'Mikołów, dnia 20 marca 1921', with the same circular Magistrat seal and manuscript signature above the redemption clause; the printer's imprint 'K. MIARKA SP. Z OGR. POR. W MIKOŁOWIE' appears at the lower right. |
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| Comments |
Nikolai — today Mikołów — was at the center of one of the most contested plebiscites of the interwar period when this note was printed. The March 1921 Upper Silesia referendum produced a majority vote for Germany, but the League of Nations ultimately partitioned the region in October that year, awarding the industrially valuable eastern strip to Poland. Mikołów itself remained on the German side of the line, though barely.
K. Miarka G.m.b.H. was a local printing and publishing house with strong ties to the Polish-speaking Catholic minority in the region — its founder, Karol Miarka, had been a prominent Polish cultural activist in Silesia decades earlier. That a German municipal authority commissioned emergency currency from this particular printer says something about the practical realities of small-town procurement under crisis conditions.