50 Pfennig, Stadt Landsberg in Oberschlesien, 1921 (parachutists over the town)

Notgeld der Stadt Landsberg Oberschlesien

Reverse of 50 Pfennig, Stadt Landsberg in Oberschlesien, 1921 (parachutists over the town) — Reverse 600 dpi

This copy

Accession: OM-00924
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: 91.5 × 62.9 mm (±0.5, from the scan)
Themes: Notgeld Weimar Republic Upper Silesia Silesian plebiscite Townscape

The type

Type: 50 Pfennig, Stadt Landsberg in Oberschlesien, 1921 (parachutists over the town)
Rarity: common

Symbology

Figures descending by parachute over the town: A modern, somewhat fanciful scene of parachutists over Landsberg, lettered Oberschlesien / Landsberg, set against a view of the town and a large value numeral.
Befreiung v. d. polnisch. Insurgent.: A line on the shared front marking the town's deliverance from the Polish insurgents of the 1921 uprising, phrased from the German municipality's standpoint.
Leaping-stag seal, Stadt Landsberg O/S 1241: The town arms and foundation date of 1241, in a barber-pole border on the front.

What was happening

By 1921 Notgeld had turned from wartime necessity into a collectors' market, and in Upper Silesia the paper also carried politics.

Landsberg in Oberschlesien - today Gorzów Śląski in southern Poland - is a small town in the Olesno (Rosenberg) district, first mentioned in 1241, whose leaping-stag seal appears on the front of these notes. The Treaty of Versailles put the future of Upper Silesia, a region of mixed Polish and German population, to a plebiscite held on 20 March 1921. The region returned an overall German majority while much of the south-east voted Polish, and the disputed result was followed in May 1921 by the Third Silesian Uprising, in which Polish insurgents fought for union with Poland and German self-defence units resisted. Landsberg issued its notes in that spring (dated 24 May 1921) under the line Befreiung v. d. polnisch. Insurgent., the German town's commemoration of its deliverance from the Polish insurgents - wording that reflects the municipality's own point of view.

This 50-Pfennig note shows, on the back, a view of the town with figures descending by parachute over the landscape and a large 50, lettered Oberschlesien / Landsberg. Its companions are [[notgeld-landsberg-oberschlesien-75-pfennig-stadt]] and [[notgeld-landsberg-oberschlesien-75-pfennig-insurgenten]].

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 50 Pfennig, Stadt Landsberg in Oberschlesien, 1921 (parachutists over the town) in the collection.

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