75 Heller Ostermiething

Ostermiething is a small market town in Upper Austria, and this 75 Heller note is a product of the Notgeld wave that swept Austrian municipalities between 1919 and 1921. With the postwar Habsburg currency in chronic shortage and small-denomination coins nearly absent from circulation, thousands of local authorities — down to the village level — printed their own emergency scrip. Most issues were redeemable only locally and for limited periods, which is precisely why so many survived uncirculated: collectors began hoarding them almost immediately, turning what was meant as a practical stopgap into a cottage philatelic industry.

The official municipality stamp serves as the primary authentication, a common arrangement when no formal printing contract was in place.