Catalog
75 Pfennigs
| Issuer | Gemeindekasse Freienohl (Municipality of Freienohl, Sauerland, Westphalia) |
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| Year | 1921 |
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| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Printed on cream stock within a pale green border, the obverse bears the heading NOTGELDSCHEIN in large decorative Fraktur script across the upper portion, with the issuing locality FREIENOHL in oversized gold Fraktur flanked by the phrases der Freiheit to the left and im Sauerland to the right. A two-column text block in dark blue Fraktur records the payment obligation of the Gemeindekasse Freienohl, centred upon a circular municipal seal in gold bearing a heraldic shield with the letter S. The lower margin carries manuscript signatures of the Amtmann and Gemeindevorsteher alongside a printed serial number. |
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| Reverse description | Set within the same pale green border as the obverse, the reverse is divided into three panels: the left panel carries the denomination 75 in large gold numerals above the word Pfennig and the issuer name Freienohl in gold and dark blue Fraktur; the central vignette presents a detailed pen-and-ink line engraving of a Sauerland village street scene with half-timbered houses, a church steeple rising behind a tree, and two figures in the foreground, with an artist's signature at lower centre. The right panel contains a dialect verse attributed to F. W. Grimme, rendered in alternating gold and dark blue Fraktur script. |
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| Comments |
Freienohl is a small village in the Röhr valley, and like hundreds of German municipalities in 1921, it issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — to address a chronic shortage of small-denomination coins. The Reichsbank was hemorrhaging metal coinage and simply could not supply enough to keep local commerce moving. The Gemeindekasse, the municipal treasury, assumed the role of issuer by necessity rather than ambition.
The 75 Pfennig denomination is slightly unusual; most Sauerland municipal issues favored 25, 50, and 100 Pfennig values. Whether this reflects a specific local pricing need or simple administrative improvisation is not documented.