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50 Pfennig
| Issuer | Magistrat der Königlichen Haupt- und Residenzstadt Berlin |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | DeNG 6#B27.3 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Fünfzig Pfennige Stadtkassenschein Berlin 30. Januar 1920 Magistrat der Königl. Haupt- und Residenzstadt 50 |
| Reverse description | At centre, the Berlin bear is shown in a rearing posture, arms raised aloft supporting a circle enclosing the numeral '50'. The denomination legend 'Funfzig Pfennige' is rendered in large Gothic script flanking the bear vignette, set over a decorative rosette underprint in orange-red. A legal warning text against counterfeiting is printed in smaller Gothic script along the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
Berlin's municipal authority issued its own small-denomination emergency currency — Notgeld — during the post-WWI period when a chronic shortage of coin and low-denomination Reichsbank notes made everyday transactions genuinely difficult. The city's status as the imperial capital gave its scrip more credibility than most municipal issues, and Berlin Notgeld circulated without much friction in the local economy.
The watermark is worth noting: most Notgeld of this period was printed on plain stock, and its presence here suggests the city was drawing on better-quality paper reserves, possibly repurposed from pre-war administrative use.