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50 Pfennigs
| Issuer | Gemeindekasse Freienohl (Municipality of Freienohl, Prussian province of Westphalia) |
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| Year | |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Cream-toned rectangular Notgeld note printed in red and black Gothic (Fraktur) script throughout. The large heading 'NOTGELDSCHEIN' is rendered in bold red calligraphic lettering across the top, below which the issuing locality 'Freienohl im Sauerland' appears in an ornate Fraktur hand. A central circular municipal seal in red bears the legend 'SIGILVM' with an 'S' device, flanked on either side by two columns of Gothic text stating the redemption obligation of the Gemeindekasse Freienohl; at the foot, manuscript signatures of the Amtmann and the Gemeindevorsteher appear alongside a handwritten serial number. |
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| Reverse description | No image of the reverse is available for description. |
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| Comments |
Freienohl is a small village on the Ruhr river in the Sauerland — the kind of place that would never appear in a currency catalog under ordinary circumstances. This note exists because of the acute small-change shortage that gripped Germany from around 1916 onward, as metal coinage disappeared from circulation and the Reichsbank failed to fill the gap quickly enough. Municipal treasuries, local businesses, and even individual employers were left to print their own fractional paper — Notgeld in the strict wartime sense, distinct from the decorative collector issues that followed in the early 1920s.
The Gemeindekasse (municipal cashier's office) rather than a commercial issuer is notable; this came directly from local government authority, not private improvisation.