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50 Pfennig Districts Series - Issue 16: Köpenick
| Issuer | Magistrat der Reichshauptstadt Berlin |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Brown and blue note with wide blue interlaced ornamental side borders framing a central vignette rendered in a woodcut-style engraving after a historical view of Köpenick circa 1820, showing a large sail barge under full sail on the Dahme or Spree waterway, with figures on deck and a panoramic townscape — including a church steeple and rooftops — visible on the far bank beneath a clouded sky. The left border panel bears the inscription 'BEZIRK' above the issue number '16' and 'Köpenick' below; the right border panel carries the district name 'Köpenick' and the historical date 'um 1820' in calligraphic script. |
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| Protection type | Embossed seal |
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| Comments |
Köpenick was still an independent municipality in 1921 — it wasn't incorporated into Greater Berlin until the administrative consolidation later that year under the Greater Berlin Act of 1920, which took full effect on October 1, 1920. That timing makes this note a curiosity: issued under Berlin's magistrate authority but referencing a district that had only just been absorbed, its identity still transitional on paper.
The embossed seal was the primary anti-counterfeiting measure across the entire Pfennig Districts Series, a notably low-tech solution for a city the size of Berlin, reflecting just how quickly these emergency small-denomination notes had to be produced during the postwar coin shortage.