Old Money Registry

Notes / OM-00410

50 Pfennig, Kreis Erbach im Odenwald, 1918

AlbumGermany — Notgeld Germany series 1918 XF common
Obverse 600 dpi
Reverse 600 dpi

This copy

Accession
OM-00410
Series year
1918
Actually issued
1918
district
not read unread

Printed as a facsimile; the engraver's reduction has lost the letter forms.

Grade
XF (IBNS)

Light toning and soft corners; no fold through the design. 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
$5.5 indicative

Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-09-26.

Dimensions
101 × 57.2 mm (±1.1, from the scan)
Themes
NotgeldSerienscheinWeimar RepublicHesseOdenwaldDistrict issue

The type

Type
50 Pfennig, Kreis Erbach im Odenwald, 1918
Printer
Not established
Rarity
common
ErbachGermany, 1920 borders

Symbology

November 1918
Dated in the month the monarchy fell. The note gives a redemption date five months out, which is a district hoping the worst is over.
A sower between bears
The reverse shows a man broadcasting seed in a sunburst, flanked by two bears in medallions - the bear is the badge of the Counts of Erbach.
The penalty clause
The face warns that forging or circulating false notes carries not less than two years' *Zuchthaus* - penal servitude. Wartime issues say this; collectors' issues mostly do not.

What was happening

This is Kriegsnotgeld, the earlier kind: war emergency money rather than the collectors' issues of 1920-21. Silver and nickel disappeared from circulation within weeks of mobilisation in 1914, and the Reichsbank could not print small notes fast enough to replace it, so towns and districts filled the gap on their own authority and against their own treasuries. These issues look like what they are - functional paper, serially numbered, with a validity tied to a redemption notice rather than a picture on the back.

One of the earliest notes in this batch: November 1918, the month of the armistice and the revolution, issued by the district of Erbach in the Odenwald and redeemable from 1 April 1919 at the earliest.

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 50 Pfennig, Kreis Erbach im Odenwald, 1918 in the collection.

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