50 Heller, Gemeinde Engerwitzdorf, 1920
Notgeld der Gemeinde Engerwitzdorf
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This copy
- Accession
- OM-00317
- Series year
- 1920
- Actually issued
- 1920
- mayor
- not read unread
Signed by hand in ink; the hand is not resolvable at 600 dpi.
- deputy_mayor_1
- not read unread
Signed by hand in ink; the hand is not resolvable at 600 dpi.
- deputy_mayor_2
- not read unread
Signed by hand in ink; the hand is not resolvable at 600 dpi.
- Grade
- XF (IBNS)
Even light toning across the sheet and a little edge grubbiness; the heavy black woodcut is unbroken and there is no fold through it. 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
- $3.5 indicative
Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-09-26.
- Dimensions
- 77.7 × 55.9 mm (±0.6, from the scan)
- Themes
- NotgeldEmergency moneyUpper AustriaLocal designWoodcut designFirst Austrian Republic
The type
- Type
- 50 Heller, Gemeinde Engerwitzdorf, 1920
- Printer
- Not established
- Rarity
- very common
Inscriptions
Zur Linderung der Kleingeldnot gibt die Gemeinde Engerwitzdorf fuer 50.000 Kronen Gutscheine aus. Diese sind unverzinslich, werden von der Gemeinde Engerwitzdorf bis 31. Dezember 1920 in Zahlung genommen und in der Zeit vom 1. bis 31. Jaenner 1921 in gesetzlichem Bargeld eingeloest. Engerwitzdorf, 24. April 1920.
To relieve the shortage of small change the commune of Engerwitzdorf issues 50,000 Kronen of vouchers. They bear no interest, will be accepted in payment by the commune until 31 December 1920 and redeemed in legal tender between 1 and 31 January 1921. Engerwitzdorf, 24 April 1920.
Symbology
- St. Aegidi Kapelle, erb. 1365
- The chapel of St. Giles, dated on the note to 1365. A Gothic arch drawn in heavy black line fills the entire face, with the denomination tucked into the spandrels - the building is the note, and the money is the frame around it.
- Three signatures
- A mayor and two deputy mayors, all in ink. Engerwitzdorf's run was small enough for the council to sign it by hand.
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.
Engerwitzdorf lies in the Muehlviertel north of Linz. Its council resolved on 24 April 1920 to issue fifty thousand Kronen of vouchers, accepted by the commune to the end of that year and redeemed in the first three weeks of January 1921.
The whole face is given to a single woodcut of the chapel of St. Aegidius, captioned with its building date of 1365 - a chapel five and a half centuries old on money that was designed to last eight months.
This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 50 Heller, Gemeinde Engerwitzdorf, 1920 in the collection.
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