25 Pfennig Paderborn notgeld

This notgeld is from Paderborn and has the value of 25 Pfennig. Front shows a group of men with some archaic weapons like an ax, a spear, a trident, and a morning star. The inscription in German reads: 'Christian Kann Kummen! Die Maspern rusten zum Kampf' and translates as: 'Christian can come! The Masperns [Inhabitants of Paderborn] are preparing for battle.' Reverse shows two coins, one bearing the inscription: 'Gottes freundt der pfaffen feindt' which translates 'God's friend, priest's enemy'. this is from 1622 in the Thirty Years' War, when Christian the younger of Brunswick, a Protestant, issued coin apparently struck from gold and silver from the plate of the Catholic cathedral. This is one of sixty notgeld or 'emergency money' banknotes in the reference collection of packaging material which belonged to the designer Charles Hasler. Notgeld were produced by German towns, villages and municipalities from the end of the First World War until the mid 1920s, when the state bank (the Reichsbank), struggled with wartime metal shortages and post- war hyperinflation. The highly decorative notes soon became collectors items - and still remain to this day. They are double-sided and printed with their monetary value, information about the village, town or province of issue and some colourful illustration.