10 Pfennig, Stadt-Sparkasse Bielefeld, 1919
Stadt-Sparkasse Bielefeld
Loading the detail view…
Scroll or pinch to zoom · drag to pan · Esc to close
This copy
- Accession
- OM-00889
- Serial
- C 42699
- Series year
- 1919
- Actually issued
- 1919
- Signatures
- This issue carries no bank manager or cashier signature.
- Grade
- XF (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
- $5.5 indicative
Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-10-24.
- Dimensions
- 81.1 × 52 mm (±0.5, from the scan)
- Themes
- NotgeldWeimar RepublicWestphaliaSavings bank
The type
- Type
- 10 Pfennig, Stadt-Sparkasse Bielefeld, 1919
- Rarity
- common
Symbology
- Value diamond and Stadt-Sparkasse legend (obverse)
- A large diamond bearing the denomination and the promise of the municipal savings bank to pay the bearer, framed by corner vignettes.
- Oak-leaf and acorn ornament (reverse)
- An ornamental design of oak leaves and acorns, a conventional emblem of German strength and endurance.
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. The small-change notes (Kleingeldscheine) issued by town treasuries and municipal savings banks were the plain working end of the phenomenon, printed to pass from hand to hand rather than into an album.
This is one of them: a 10-Pfennig note of the Stadt-Sparkasse Bielefeld, the municipal savings bank of the Westphalian linen town, dated "Magistrat Bielefeld, 1. April 1919." It promises to pay the bearer of the draft on demand. Bielefeld became one of the most prolific and celebrated of all Notgeld issuers - later famous for its linen and silk Stoffgeld, the cloth money of the 1921 jubilee (see [[notgeld-bielefeld-25-mark-stoffgeld]]) - but these early small-change notes were ordinary municipal currency.
The obverse is built around a large diamond carrying the value "10 ₰" and the Stadt-Sparkasse legend, bordered with figures and corner vignettes; the reverse carries an ornamental oak-leaf and acorn design. It was issued in several colour variants, which this type covers.
This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 10 Pfennig, Stadt-Sparkasse Bielefeld, 1919 in the collection.
Print an album label for this note →
← → to move between notes