25 Pfennig, Dorfgemeinde Oppurg, 1921 (the old river bridge)
Notgeld der Dorfgemeinde Oppurg
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This copy
- Accession
- OM-00882
- Series year
- 1921
- Actually issued
- 1921
- Signatures
- This issue carries no bank manager or cashier signature.
- Grade
- UNC (IBNS)
Estimated from the archival scan. Folds, soiling and edge condition are visible at this resolution; paper crispness, pinholes, small repairs and pressing are not.
- Estimated value
- $10 indicative
Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-10-24.
- Dimensions
- 97.3 × 68.9 mm (±0.5, from the scan)
- Themes
- NotgeldSerienscheinWeimar RepublicThuringiaBridge
The type
- Type
- 25 Pfennig, Dorfgemeinde Oppurg, 1921 (the old river bridge)
- Printer
- Tageblattdruckerei, Pössneck
- Rarity
- common
Inscriptions
Alte Flußbrücke aus dem 16. Jahrhundert
Old river bridge of the 16th century
Symbology
- The old river bridge (reverse)
- A stone bridge over the Orla, captioned as dating from the sixteenth century - the village putting its oldest surviving structure on the money.
- Sunburst behind the town arms (obverse)
- The shared front of the Oppurg set: violet rays spreading behind the little arms, whose charges are a sun, a tree and a bridge.
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. The result is the most inventive body of graphic design in the history of paper money, made in the years when Germany's currency was dying.
Oppurg is a village in Thuringia on the Orla, just below Pössneck, best known for its Wasserschloss - a moated manor-house. Even a village of its size issued a little set of notes, printed at the Tageblatt press in Pössneck and dated "Oppurg, 1. Aug. 1921," signed by Henniger for the Gemeindevorstand. The obverse is shared across the set: a violet sunburst behind the small town arms, with their sun, tree and bridge.
This 25-Pfennig value shows on its reverse the Alte Flußbrücke aus dem 16. Jahrhundert - the old river bridge of the sixteenth century. See the companion notes, the [[notgeld-oppurg-50-pfennig-kirche]], the [[notgeld-oppurg-50-pfennig-tuerkenhof]] and the [[notgeld-oppurg-75-pfennig-schlossturm]].
This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 25 Pfennig, Dorfgemeinde Oppurg, 1921 (the old river bridge) in the collection.
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