One of the big problems for ‘non-Germans’ with collecting German notgeld, is the language barrier. Books, pamplets and the like were usually in German, especially if they are older ones. Publications such as ‘Das Notgeld’ by Dr. Arnold Keller or ‘Der Notgeldmarkt‘ produced by the coin and notgeld dealer, Henry Seligmann, document the notgeld ‘journey’ in those earlier years and the writers’ very different perspectives of the notgeld issues and the collector market. Keller was a notgeld ‘purist’ whilst Seligmann was a businessman.
That situation is slowly improving though, as more and more ‘non-German’ collectors record and write about their notgeld collections and discoveries. I want to mention the notgeld publications written in English here, as they are the backbone to our wonderful hobby, today:
- The Fraktur was a notgeld collectors’ monthly publication, published by the late writer and author, Courtney Coffing of the USA. It started in July 1988 and ran to December 2000.
- Notgeld Chatter was a notgeld periodical which pre-dated Notgeld Newsletter, published by the late collector and dealer Dwight L. Musser, also from the USA
- Notgeld Newsletter was a periodical published by the late collector and dealer Dwight L. Musser. (published early 1970’s through to mid 1980’s
- Notgeld Information – also published by Dwight L. Musser (German Notgeld Information Center)
- ‘German Notgeld : An Introduction to Serienscheine‘ – written by Tudor Morris from the United Kingdom, in 1994.
Publications for general collectors which featured specific articles on notgeld, for example, Banknote Reporter and Coin News are not listed here.
I want to mention one other publication here. In Germany, I am aware of the ‘current’ publication (in German) called ‘Papiergeld‘ by Kai Lindman. I guess this will now stop being published, due to his sad and untimely passing (2021)…..
In Vol. 3 of Dwight L. Musser‘s Notgeld Information, my first emergency money book entitled ‘German Gems – The Encyclopedia of German Notgeld‘ gets a mention. Dwight writes:
‘Also to be recognized are the efforts of Tony Gibbs-Murray. Based in England, he has earned his commendation for promoting the hobby in English language with forays into internet activity and publication.‘
(This was in 2014, a long time ago it seems……. but also after and when I had been collecting previously for over 40 years! How time flies as a hobbyist….) I corresponded with both Tudor and Dwight but never met them in person, unfortunately. My website and GNCC notgeld club has grown and grown, into what it is today and my notgeld specific publications now stand at ’10’. (2024). I hope this website and the books are a great resource for the non-German speaking collectors of notgeld, all around the world.
Today, one of the best English language notgeld catalogues one can purchase, is the serienscheine catalogue, written by Nathanial Butler, from the USA. (See under the ‘My Books’ section on the homepage, on how to contact Nate if you are interested in his book) :
With Nate’s serienscheine catalogue + my ‘ELUSIVE GEMS‘ publication, which covers over 100 of the really rare and not often depicted pieces, a collector now has most serienscheine catalogued.
The way forward with serienscheine notgeld, seems to me, to be to follow the ‘P.U.Z.‘ catalogue formats (but in English) which unfortunately, were only printed in very limited numbers. The ‘P.U.Z.’ also included the revalued / overprinted (OVPs) editions of the ‘normal’ serienscheine. I have made a start with carrying this work / project forward with my ‘REVALUED GEMS‘. This way, ALL serienscheine types are catered for…….and any ‘new’ notes discovered can be added in to my 2 books.
(For further interesting info : the PUZ 1st edition (blue) was a collaboration between Benno Peters, Peter Ullrich & Karl Zinsmeister. The layout was in usual A4 (297x210mm), with some pictures in full colour and overprints (just the word overprint) being highlighted with yellow colour. The 2nd edition (black, printed in 2013) was by Peter Eggl, Peter Ullrich, Dieter Pitt & Karl Zinsmeister. Only then did the ‘P’ really start to be interpreted as standing for ‘Dieter Pitt’. (Benno Peters was only there at the very beginning.) In the 2nd edition, Peter Eggl & Dieter Pitt contributed variants and pictures. The main burden was borne by Peter Ullrich from Hilden, who wrote everything etc. Ullrich sold his collection in about 2014 and is no longer continuing the catalogue. After that, Dieter Pitt was driving for another ‘PUZ’ catalogue for years, with Karl Zinsmeister reporting notes to him, over the years ……. but Dieter’s very sad and untimely passing has put an end to that. Apparently, there was a C:D of the black catalogue that Dieter Pitt received. I wonder if that will ever come to market………??)
I think it is nice to look back some times and see how far this hobby of ours has come. Specialist info is now fairly readily available to emergency money collectors around the world, via the internet, of course. The big problem of ‘language’ still remains though….. but we are getting there! I hope Nate’s and my endeavours, at least, go a little way in breaking those barriers down for the collectors.