50 Pfennig, Stadt Gernrode am Harz, 1921
Gutschein der Stadt Gernrode-Harz
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This copy
- Accession
- OM-00415
- Series year
- 1921
- Actually issued
- 1921
- magistrate
- not read unread
Printed as a facsimile; the engraver's reduction has lost the letter forms.
- Grade
- UNC (IBNS)
As issued: full body, square corners, bright unfaded ink and 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
- $10 indicative
Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-09-26.
- Dimensions
- 86.1 × 53.3 mm (±0.5, from the scan)
- Themes
- NotgeldSerienscheinWeimar RepublicSaxony-AnhaltHarzTown viewSpa town
The type
- Type
- 50 Pfennig, Stadt Gernrode am Harz, 1921
- Printer
- Louis Koch, Halberstadt
- Rarity
- common
Symbology
- Ein Malerwinkel
- "A painter's corner, rich in plain treasures." The verse tells you exactly what the town is selling: not grandeur, but the picturesque.
- The old hospital pond
- The reverse is a coloured view of red roofs above water, with the church tower behind - the scene the verse describes.
What was happening
Notgeld began in 1914 out of necessity: coin vanished into hoards within weeks of mobilisation and towns printed their own small change because the Reichsbank could not supply enough.
By 1920 it had become something else. The shortage was easing but the collector market was not, and a town could take real marks for paper it hoped would never be presented. So the municipalities commissioned Serienscheine: lithographed sets, printed far beyond any local need, illustrated with whatever the place was proud of - a legend, a famous son, a battle, a joke in dialect. The result is the most inventive body of graphic design in the history of paper money, made by places with a few thousand inhabitants, in the years when Germany's currency was dying.
The fifty leaves the church for the town itself, and carries a verse signed C.M. inviting the reader to rest at the old hospital pond, let the sun glitter on the crooked gables, and take imagination as a guest: ein Malerwinkel, reich an schlichten Kostbarkeiten.
This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 50 Pfennig, Stadt Gernrode am Harz, 1921 in the collection.
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