Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Pfennig Forum-Scheck
| Issuer | Forum Außenhandelsgesellschaft m.b.H. |
|---|---|
| Year | 1979 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 109 x 48 mm |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse printed in ochre and violet with an elaborate guilloche underprint of interlocking wave patterns. A vertical ochre band at right bears the geometric stepped logo in violet; a horizontal purple band across the centre carries the non-transferability text in italic script. The denomination '0,50' is printed at lower left and the year '1979' at lower right within the ochre panel. |
| Reverse lettering | Der Scheck ist nicht rücktauschbar und nicht übertragbar 0,50 1979 (Translation: This cheque is non-refundable and not transferable) |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Forum Außenhandelsgesellschaft was the East German state enterprise that operated the Intershop hard-currency retail network, and these Forum-Schecks were created to sidestep an awkward problem: the GDR wanted Western currency from its citizens but couldn't legally allow that currency to circulate openly. The Schecks let East Germans convert Deutschmarks, dollars, or other hard currency into a controlled voucher redeemable only at Intershop outlets — the state captured the foreign exchange while maintaining the fiction that capitalist money wasn't changing hands.
Introduced in 1979, the series replaced the earlier system of direct hard-currency transactions at Intershop stores. The 50 Pfennig denomination was practical for small purchases — detergent, coffee, cigarettes — the everyday goods that Intershop stocked and ordinary East German retail could not reliably supply.