80 Heller Oberösterreich

Oberösterreich's Heller notgeld belongs to a wave of emergency small-change issues that flooded Austria between 1919 and 1921, filling the gap left by the near-total disappearance of metal coinage after the First World War. The denomination itself — 80 Heller — is characteristic of the regional issues that deliberately avoided round numbers, partly to discourage counterfeiting and partly because the actual change shortage operated at irregular values.

Printed locally in Linz rather than through a Vienna commercial house, this is a purely provincial solution to a provincial problem. The Land government retained control of both design and distribution, with validity typically restricted to circulation within Upper Austria's borders.