50 Heller, Marktgemeinde Poysdorf, 1920

Kassenschein der Marktgemeinde Poysdorf

Reverse of 50 Heller, Marktgemeinde Poysdorf, 1920 — Reverse 600 dpi

This copy

Accession: OM-00306
Series year: 1920
Actually issued: 1920
deputy_mayor: not read unread
Signed by hand in ink; the hand is not resolvable at 600 dpi.
mayor: not read unread
Signed by hand in ink; the hand is not resolvable at 600 dpi.
councillor: not read unread
Signed by hand in ink; the hand is not resolvable at 600 dpi.
municipal_treasurer: not read unread
Signed by hand in ink; the hand is not resolvable at 600 dpi.
Grade: VF (IBNS)
Circulated: overall grubbiness, a brown stain at the right edge of the reverse, a light vertical crease left of centre and small edge nicks. Estimated from the 600 dpi archival scan, which shows folds, soiling and edge condition but not paper crispness, pinholes, pressing or small repairs.
Estimated value: $2 indicative
Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-09-26.
Dimensions: 80.6 × 59.8 mm (±1.6, from the scan)
Themes: Notgeld Emergency money Lower Austria Wine country Verse First Austrian Republic

The type

Type: 50 Heller, Marktgemeinde Poysdorf, 1920
Printer: Not established
Rarity: very common

PoysdorfAustria, 1920 borders

Inscriptions

Obverse - the guarantee

Die Gemeinde Poysdorf haftet fuer diese Verbindlichkeit mit ihrem ganzen beweglichen und unbeweglichen Vermoegen. Poysdorf, i. Mai 1920.

The commune of Poysdorf stands behind this obligation with its entire movable and immovable property. Poysdorf, May 1920.

Reverse - the verse

In Poysdorf liegt manch' Tropfen Wein, doch mangelt es am Gelde klein; drum schickten wir dies Blaettchen aus, aus vielen wird ein Glaeschen draus.

In Poysdorf there is many a drop of wine, but small money is short; so we sent out this little leaf, and out of many of them comes a glass.

Reverse - the issue

Zur Linderung der Kleingeldnot gibt die Gemeinde Poysdorf unverzinsliche Kassenscheine im Gesamtbetrage von 100.000 Kronen aus. Sie werden von der Gemeinde Poysdorf bis 31. Dezember 1920 in Zahlung genommen und in der Zeit vom 16. bis 31. Dezember 1920 in gesetzlichem Bargelde eingeloest.

To relieve the shortage of small change the commune of Poysdorf issues interest-free treasury notes to a total of 100,000 Kronen. They will be accepted in payment by the commune until 31 December 1920 and redeemed in legal tender between 16 and 31 December 1920.

Symbology

Vine leaves and grapes: The border of the face is built from vine leaves and bunches of grapes. Poysdorf's whole economy is in the ornament.
The double-headed eagle: A Habsburg imperial eagle in the centre of a note issued by a republic two years into its existence. Market towns held their privileges from the crown, and the arms they had been granted did not change when the crown went - the block was already cut, and nobody in Poysdorf saw a reason to recut it.
Aus vielen wird ein Glaeschen draus: “Out of many of them comes a glass.” The note tells you its own purchasing power, and does it as a joke about how little that is.
The Weinviertel and the new border: Poysdorf's market lay towards Moravia, which in 1919 became another country. Wine country cut off from half its customers, short of coin, and printing its own.

What was happening

Austria in 1919 was a republic of six and a half million people left holding the currency of an empire of fifty. The Austro-Hungarian Bank was in liquidation, the peace treaties had cut the country off from most of its coal and much of its food, and small coin simply vanished: hoarded against worse to come, melted for the metal, or carried across the new frontiers where it bought more. Shops could not give change, and a country that cannot give change cannot trade.

So the communes printed their own. A council resolution, a local printer, a redemption date and the pledge of the commune's entire movable and immovable property - that was the whole legal apparatus behind several thousand separate issues of Heller notes between 1919 and 1921. Vienna tolerated it while it solved a real problem and moved to stop it in 1920, by which time the notes had found a second market: collectors would pay more than face value for a complete set, so a village could raise real money by printing money it hoped would never be presented. The artwork improved as the need receded.

Poysdorf is the centre of the Weinviertel, the wine quarter in the far north-east of Lower Austria towards the Moravian border. It issued a hundred thousand Kronen in fifty-Heller notes, accepted to 31 December 1920 and redeemable in the last fortnight of that month.

Like Abstetten and Baden it explains itself in verse, and Poysdorf's is the frankest of the three:

In Poysdorf liegt manch' Tropfen Wein, / Doch mangelt es am Gelde klein; / Drum schickten wir dies Blaettchen aus, / Aus vielen wird ein Glaeschen draus.

There is many a drop of wine in Poysdorf, but small money is short; so we sent out this little leaf, and out of a lot of them comes a glass. A wine town with full cellars and no coins, printing paper so that a glass could still be bought.

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 50 Heller, Marktgemeinde Poysdorf, 1920 in the collection.

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