50 Pfennig, Residenzstadt Cassel, 1918

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. Where the later Serienscheine of 1920-1923 were pictorial collectors' issues, the earliest wave was plain official paper meant simply to circulate - and this note belongs to that first, functional kind.

This is a 50-Pfennig Geldschein of the Residenzstadt Cassel - Kassel in Hesse, the old seat of the Electors of Hesse-Cassel and still styled a royal residence city in the imperial period. It is not a pictorial Serienschein but a plain blue Fraktur note carrying the city arms and the undertaking Dieser Geldschein wird von allen städtischen Kassen eingelöst - "this note will be redeemed by all municipal treasuries." It was signed by the Magistrat der Residenz (Koch / Brunner).

The year is given here as 1918, assigned on reasoning rather than from a confirmed catalogue entry: the self-description Residenzstadt and the signing Magistrat der Residenz are monarchical-era usages that fit the war years better than the republic, and Cassel's own zinc Kriegsgeld of 1917 is likewise struck "Residenzstadt Cassel" while the 1920 municipal coinage has already dropped to "Stadt Cassel." The note therefore sits with the wartime coin shortage of 1917-1918 rather than the inflation issues. This dating should be treated as an open point until matched to Grabowski's Deutsche Kleingeldscheine, Amtliche Verkehrsausgaben 1916-1922.