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50 Pfennigs Max and Moritz Series
| Issuer | Flecken Wiedensahl (Gemeinde) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Pfennigs (50 Pfennige) (0.50) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a full-colour comic vignette drawn in the style of Wilhelm Busch, taken from the story 'Max und Moritz', showing the hapless schoolmaster Lämpel lying stunned on his back amid overturned furniture, scattered hooks, and his detached wig and boots, with smoke rising in the background. A foliate and red-berry border in the folk-art tradition frames the entire composition. Below the vignette, two lines of rhyming verse in Gothic script are printed across the lower margin. |
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| Signature(s) | Brüner (Bürgermeister) |
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| Comments |
Wiedensahl is a small village in Lower Saxony best known as the birthplace of Wilhelm Busch, whose 1865 illustrated story *Max und Moritz* is one of the most reprinted works in German literary history and a direct precursor to the modern comic strip. This notgeld issue exploits that local connection openly — the village was not a major commercial center and had no particular monetary reason to issue emergency currency beyond what every small German municipality was doing in 1921.
The Busch association almost certainly kept more of these notes out of circulation than went into it. Collectors were hoarding themed notgeld by mid-1921, and series tied to specific cultural figures were printed in quantities far exceeding genuine local need.