A few ‘Artistic’ notgeld issues I wish to draw attention to: It is a personal choice as to what an individual sees as being a desirable piece or set of notgeld. Here are just a few examples of pieces that can be seen as ‘artistic’: Silhouette images (A wonderful looking set of 12 from Kalsbreith) … Read more
Santa & Christmas themed GERMAN notgeld . (Let me know of any others please and I will update this listing): BOLKENHAIN – 1* 50 pf from the set of 6 (black and white piece) BOLKENHAIN – 1* 50 pf from the set of 6 (coloured piece) GROSSBREITENBACH – 50pf – Xmas toys and presents KAHLA … Read more
The German Colonies and Colonial Goods Some of the German notgeld issues that are available to collectors, refer to some of the former German Colonies and also to the shops that then sold goods that came from these places (‘Kolonialwaren’). I state ‘former’ here as after WWI, Germany had to surrender its foreign colonies to … Read more
Here’s an interesting notgeld related story…….. One of the fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, was ‘The Wishing Table, the Golden Donkey and the Cudgel in the Sack’. Three brothers get hold of magical items, the second of which is a donkey which, upon the command “Bricklebit!”, dispenses gold coins from its mouth and anus……..an ass … Read more
Pieces designed and made by notgeld ‘swindler’ Heinrich Appel. This lovely looking piece was issued in Suederbrarup by ‘Heinrich Appel‘, a very good artist it would seem but a notgeld ‘swindler‘. He owned a small print shop and was one of the worst contemporaries in the area. Keller has a note about this chap too … Read more
Modern notgeld issues The market now sees modern notgeld being created and sold, with usually the date of manufacture being shown. A whole new collector area has grown up with these new ‘creations’. In my mind, no where near as desirable as the genuine issues of the early 1920’s era, I still think I should … Read more
NOTATED MUSIC ON NOTGELD The following pieces all have a theme of music, but specifically in this listing……….have ‘written or notated music’ in their design/graphics. (German notgeld followed by Austrian towards the bottom.) If you spot any more, please contact me and let me have the details and I will add them to this list … Read more
Owls appearing on German notgeld – let me know of any others please and I will update this listing! (Austrian notgeld list is at the bottom) BAMBERG (bottom left corners) BERGA – reverse of a 50pf note BIBERACH BIELEFELD 5000m (jute) – red and green types EPSON MFP image BOLKENHAIN – reverse of 25pf … Read more
Prison notgeld The following pieces are not, as one may initially think, P.O.W. (Prisoner-Of-War) issues, but infact, notgeld issues for an actual prison – the prison (‘strafanstalten’) in Hamburg! The pieces date from 1922, with the larger inflationary face valued notes and the ones in goldpfennigs and goldmarks dating from 1923. If you know of … Read more
Scouting related notgeld (Pfadfinderbund) issues. These2 rare 50pf & 100pf pieces are from Altenwied. They catalogue at 200 euros each! They feature in my German notgeld encyclopedia book : ‘GERMAN GEMS’ The following 3 scarce pieces are from Berlin. The 3 notes below were issued in Flensburg – their reverses are plain. This rare note … Read more
The following German notgeld pieces all have the theme of ‘torture’ and ‘punishment’. If you spot any more in your researches, please contact me and let me have the details and I will add them to this list for other collectors. (The last notes from Eben are Austrian and they both depict a cruxifcion). Blomberg … Read more
Herbert Bayer – some of his notgeld designs Herbert Bayer (April 5, 1900 – September 30, 1985) was an Austrian and American graphic designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director, environmental and interior designer, and architect. He was instrumental in the development of the Atlantic Richfield Company ‘s corporate art collection. In 1920, he became an … Read more
In the period of WWI and the notgeld issuing years following that, much of the imagery and graphics shown on the notes themselves were related to the Great War. Some of the best examples, in my mind, come from the town of Aschaffenburg: The 2 notes above from Aschaffenburg are a ‘pair’ of verkehrsausgaben notgeld … Read more
In the period when a lot of the notgeld issues were being printed, 1920-1923, the German economy was in a terrible state. The end of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles had brought with it suffering and punishment to the German State and People. In 1923, even the monetary system collapsed when the hyper-inflation could … Read more
The German economy, just following the end of WWI, was struggling. People had little money to spend on the daily necessaries. The following pieces, issued in Emmerich, date from 1920. The face value of the notes are clear, as are the serial numbers, place and date of issue and the authority of the issue…..the Burgermeister … Read more
The historic town of Kaufbeuren, in Bavaria, issued a lovely single 50pf note dated ’15 Juni 1918′. On its front is a steel helmet (from WWI) surrounded by small oak branches and acorns, resting over the city’s coat-of-arms and the note’s value – 50 pfennig. On its reverse, is a scene of the town, with … Read more
The German town of Soltau, issued several verkehrsausgaben notgeld issues, some of which are pictured below. For collectors, they are good pieces to obtain but you do have to check with the pieces you already have for possible differences……before placing a note on your ‘duplicates’ or ‘swaps’ pile! All the dates are different on the … Read more
The German town of Trebnitz…….now Trzebnica and located in Poland, issued several verkehrsausgaben notgeld issues, some of which are pictured below. The bottom pair of notes, have a very interesting ‘story’ to them! Following the original issue of the 2 notes (immediately above) in late 1918, there was a shortage and increased demand for the … Read more
Here is another beautiful looking verkehrsausgaben notgeld designed by Heinz Schiestl, this time from Wuerzburg. It depicts ‘Meister Dill’ in its central design. “Meister Dill”, is a Franconian version of the name Till or Tilmann……..so it refers to Tilmann Riemenschneider, the famous German woodcarver of the 16th century. The excerpt, below in bold, is from … Read more
Bohemia & Moravia notgeld issues: As I have been collecting, several pieces of notgeld that initially appear to be German or Austrian, have not been in any of the German or Austrian catalogues. On further research, I found the face values to be in heller & krone, so I then thought they were definitely Austrian. … Read more
‘Billions’! (1,000,000,000,000m = 1 billion marks…..12 ‘0’s) As the hyper-inflation gathered pace, notes with actual face values in BILLIONs of marks were being issued. The first ‘BILLION’ notgeld was issued in Berchtesgaden in 9th August, 1923. (It is ‘Ausgabe I’ issued by the ‘Bezirk’ (District), not the more ‘common orange and blue piece) I will … Read more
Notes were sometimes ‘re-used’ by placing an overprint stamp on them which was higher than the note’s original face-value. The note above is strange. The ‘overprint’ is for the same original face value………… The 1 Million Mark note above was issued in Zweibruecken and is dated 7 August 1923. It has been issued on 3 … Read more
Notgeld printed by ‘LOUIS KOCH’ of Halberstadt The following, is a list of notgeld (mostly serienscheine it seems) that were printed by the Halberstadt based printer ‘LOUIS KOCH’. Collectors will have noticed this name on several notgeld, so I thought it would be good to draw up a list…… Scans may not show all pieces … Read more
AUSTRIAN NOTGELD ISSUED ON RATION CARDS………a collecting area in itself…….. Most Austrian notgeld were printed on normal paper or card. Some though, were issued using ration cards, which in themselves, make what is a vey interesting topic for the banknote and notgeld collector! The makers or issuers of such pieces must have thought so too … Read more
AUSTRIAN notgeld created from re-used card…………..photographs, postcards etc The 6 pieces (2 x set of 3 pieces) below were issued in Buch and the backs are old photos or picture cards. The backs all have the official oval purple coloured stamp mark of the town. A scarce unsplit set of 4 notgeld from Nicklasdorf issued … Read more
I wonder what hidden gems of info are found on these pieces? EPSON MFP image The top 2 pictures show the 25m notes that depict the ‘healing pool’, which comes in 2 different colours and several variants. Some of the notes have small writing around their edges and the 2 colours are depicted above. The … Read more
My book ‘CHARACTERFUL GEMS‘ published in 2021, fully explains the graphics on the front and back of these material 1000m notes and catalogues all the different types and borders I am aware of to date. I have catalogued 50 different pieces. It really does have a wealth of information in it, so if you enjoy … Read more
The following pieces were issued in Neuhaus (Westfalen). Interestingly, there is an information sheet that was also issued with the notgeld so it is good for collectors to try and get an example of this for their collection. The info sheets don’t seem to be too common though! [Advertisement on pink paper] Notgeld of the … Read more
These 2 lovely colourful sets were issued in Neustadt and they both depict the former German colonies : Serie I & Serie II. After the end of WWI, Germany had to handover the colonies it had held. This was a very contentious point for the German nationalists, of course. In the red coloured banding, below, … Read more
The town of Rinteln issued some lovely looking ‘serienscheine’ pieces, with face values of 10pf, 25pf, 50pf & 1m. There are several variant pieces but the easiest ones to firstly differentiate between are the pieces with serial numbers and those with writing/blank and no serials. The 3 notes below all have a serial number, on … Read more
A lovely ‘medieval’ set The town of Schalkau issued a lovely set of 6 pieces which are medieval in topic and feature castles, knights on horseback and battling armies. In sequence, the pictures show that the castle is vibrant and strong and the knights are at ‘play’ jousting on their horses……..but battles creep in and then there … Read more
The German city of Stolp (now known as Slupsk, in Poland) issued 3 basic sets of 5 pieces on rough paper (buttenpapier), with face values of 50pf +75pf +1m + 1.5m +2m. These 3 sets catalogue under Gr/Mehl-1275.1a, 1275.3a & 1275.5a – they are all lovely series/sets of notgeld. There are slightly scarcer variant pieces … Read more
Front Back These scarce serienscheine pieces were issued by Gustav Habeck from Stralsund. They were printed on the back of playing cards, as can be seen from the scan above. (If you move your mouse over the image you can see the other side of the pieces.) There were several different types of card that … Read more
The city of Tonndorf-Lohe issued 9 different serienscheine (excluding variants). The 1m piece is a particularly interesting and pleasing looking note. The statement on the front of the note, with the wise old ‘scholarly looking’ owls wearing their feather and spectacles….. and who appear to have written the verse, is on 3 coloured portions. This … Read more
This lovely graphical and colourful looking set of 4 issued in Verden depict historical events. (Mouseover to see the reverses!) I have seen it described, INCORRECTLY as an anti-semitic set. The three notes depicting the career of the pirate Staertebeker (25pf), the mass execution of pagan Saxons by Charlemagne (1m) and the legend of the … Read more
Waldenburg, (now Walbrzych in Poland), issued several notgeld issues, which I hope I can cover and translate for all collectors in the coming months and years. There are so many different sets to talk about, it is hard to know where to start. This single piece (complete set of 1) is probably a good start! … Read more
Here is a complete set of 3 notes issued in Helmbrechts and undated but dating from 1922. Not particularly colourful or lovely looking, but each with a verse on their back. They all relate to money, value and worth…………these musings and comments are made just after the situation with all the thousands of worthless issues … Read more
Goldpfennig – GOLDPFG Here are 2 very nice and uncommon wertbestaendige notgeld from Bielefeld, that have been cancelled (‘Ungultig’)! Collectors may have come across similar pieces, but these are the only ones I have ever seen that have been cancelled. Bielefeld issued these small-sized pieces in paper and also linen. The brown note has a … Read more
The following, very nice looking pair of notes, were issued in Bochum, with the top one dated ‘6 August 1923′ and the bottom one, ’15 August 1923’. On the left-hand sides of the reverse sides, it states : ‘Issued with the approval of the Minister of Finance‘. On the right-hand sides of the reverse sides, … Read more
‘Katholisches Lehrlingshaus’ – Catholic Apprentice House. The following scarce note, which is stamped in the lower right corner, was issued in Mainz by the ‘Catholics apprentice house’ and is dated ’23 September 1923′, but with a far too low face value for that date. The saint depiction on the coat of arms is quite unusual … Read more
Notgeld designed by artist ‘FRANZ JUETTNER’ Franz Albert Juettner (b.1865 in Lindenstadt – d.1926 in Wolfenbuettel) was a German painter, graphic artist, illustrator of books, poster artist and the author of sociopolitical caricature. He worked for all the major newspapers of his time and was also in demand and busy as a book illustrator. His … Read more
Collectors will come across some wonderful graphics on the notgeld issues they manage to collect. So many of the designs are superb, beautiful and amazing! The 3 notes above, issued in Uberlingen are all very artistically beautiful, with the 5m note being an absolute gem. War imagery can be seen on the sides of the … Read more
The following beautiful notgeld pieces were issued in Wuerzburg. The imagery on the notes is of ‘plenty’ (cornucopia) and ‘regal status’. This was the end of WWI and Germany wanted to portray itself as ‘successful’. (Mouse-over the image to see the reverse sides) The example below, has been hole-punched cancelled: The next 2 examples have … Read more
The town of Grabow issued some lovely colourful serienscheine notgeld, including these 2, very pleasing to the eye, sets of 3 pieces. The translations of the top 3 pieces can be found under ‘GNCC/translations’ – from the homepage main yellow menu bar. I think they are both wonderful ‘typical’ colourful serienscheine notgeld sets. Front Back 25 Pfennig … Read more
Knivsberg – a very interesting ‘plebiscite’ issue! The note above is the 50pf plebiscite notgeld issue from Knivsberg, dating from 1920. After WWI, the allies re-drew map boundaries……. and villages and towns that were situated on or nearby to the ‘dividing line’ were given an option to vote in a plebiscite, to decide which country … Read more
Austrian notgeld, at first sight, do appear less interesting than the very colourful German types. However, the longer you spend collecting them, the more you … Read more
The town of Meissen, (in Saxony), famous for the porcelain maufacturer based in the city…….. with its products bearing the well-known ‘cross-swords’ trademark on them…..issued paper notgeld as well as porcelain coin pieces. (please refer to seperate article on ‘porcelain coins’ on the website.) Some of the Meissen paper notgeld are fairly ‘common’, as with … Read more
Some notgeld issues were made of leather. The piece above is a 500m leather note issued in Osterwieck. Much scarcer than the ‘normal’ piece, this example has a serial number and a signature……’H. Rabel’. (At the very bottom of the note in the purple colouring are the words ‘ENTWURF H.RABEL’……..so ‘H. Rabel’ we know was … Read more
This website is generally built around my own interests and collecting areas. Some collectors have real interests with notgeld coinage, which I do not cover here, as I have no expertise or passion on them. I do however lke the porcelain coins made by Meissen, which have the well-known ‘cross-swords’ trademark on them, as with … Read more
AUSTRIAN NOTGELD ISSUED ON WOOD………these different material pieces are a collecting area in themselves!! Most Austrian notgeld were printed on normal paper or card. Some though, were issued using actual wood / plywood. (German = holz / sperrholzplatten). I believe some of the wood pieces, like the ones from Hadersfeld are made of beechwood?? Ansfelden … Read more
From all the places that issued private verkehrsausgaben notgeld, no where compares to the quantity of different issues to that of Muenchen (Munich). Shops, especially bakers, but also butchers and pubs etc. issued these so called ‘baeckerpfennig’ pieces – the word ‘baeckerpfennig’ means that they were mainly issued by bakeries (bakers and master bakers). Quite … Read more
** These are historical documents of a bygone era and do not, in any way, reflect my own views ** Several notgeld issues mention the word ‘Scheiber’ (profiteers/racketeers (black market operatives)). It cannot completely be stated that all those notgeld issues are ‘aS’. These types of people were a fairly common complaint appearing on notgeld … Read more
Serial numbers on German notgeld There is no difference in value for a note with a lower serial number….unless it is number ‘1’ or ‘00000’ denoting a specimen piece. All collectors would like that!……..but they would usually keep the lowest serial numbered piece of a type and gradually switch for an even lower one – … Read more
Notgeld that could be split into smaller face-valued parts: The following, is a list of notgeld, mostly serienscheine it seems, that could be ‘split’ in half or quarters (for example) to make pieces of smaller face-value than the overall note facevalue. Collectors will have seen some of these lovely interesting pieces, so I thought it … Read more
Picture of the 100 TEEOHS and info about the design was supplied by GNCC member Nate Butler. (The design was inspired by the design of this French military payment note: see below). Berncastel -90 Division (Lm.91) The 3 notes above, were issued by the Ninetieth Division, when they were serving in Berncastel, Germany. The highpoint … Read more
BRAUNSCHWEIG This very rare 1 mark notgeld piece, issued by ‘Karl Pfankuch’ was made from an envelope. The catalogue mentions for these private issues,: ‘auf alten drucksachen der reichspost‘ : (on old printed matter from the reichspost). For the 10 + 30pf, from 1889and for the 1 mark piece, leftover paper ‘waste’ from 1876. DUESSELDORF … Read more
Crimmitschau The following, very collectable and interesting notgeld, were issued in Crimmitschau. Made in 1922 and issued by the textile machine factory ‘Paul Klug’, they have hand written serial number, date and other markings. From the reverse sides, one can see they were issued on workers time stamp cards (‘Schichtverrechnungskarten’) or ‘clocking-in’ cards (Stechkartes). I … Read more
The town of Husum issued inflationary notgeld in 1923, by re-using lottery tickets that had originally been issued in 1922! The original lottery tickets from the ‘Nordmark-Lotterie’ were priced at 5 marks each and the ticket number was printed on the front of the ticket. Below is a diagram of the basic layout with translations: … Read more
Collectors love anything ‘different or unusual’ in what they collect so notgeld pieces made from playing cards (spielkarton) are a real eye-catcher. Usually quite scarce and very hard to comeby, they are some of the most desirable pieces of notgeld to have in a collection! The only GERMAN towns that issued ‘spielkarten’ notgeld between 1914-1923, … Read more
Another unusual type of notgeld, issued in Neukematen, Austria and dating from 1920, are ‘coins’ (10+20+50+80 heller values) formed from compressed cardboard, which are then stuck to a coloured card backing…… see below: The total value of the 4 coins is 160 heller (10+20+50+80) ……..but in the middle of the backing card (inbetween the ’19 … Read more
The town of Witten issued inflationary notgeld in 1923, by re-using unused railway tickets! The ‘Reichsbahn-Hauptwerk’ (German State/Imperial railways main works/depot) there, must have had a surplus of unused or leftover tickets and overprinted them with notgeld text. The fronts/obverse sides of the top 3 notes all have the numeric value written on the ‘fur’ … Read more
The German/Polish town of Emmagrube, in the Kreis (District) of Rybnik, issued early notgeld dating in 1914 with face value of 1m, by using ‘unused’ shares certificates. (The original complete sheets (Kuxscheine) were not filled in, they were remainers. No #, no date, no signature.) These certificates were, in this case, specifically shares in mines … Read more
** These are historical documents of a bygone era and the images, texts and thoughts contained within, do not, in any way, reflect my own views or beliefs. It is all very depressing stuff! But interesting as testimony to another time. My interest in these types is purely from a collector’s and historical perspective** Reichsbanknote … Read more
Grossgeld are classified as any piece of notgeld having a face value of 1m or greater. In the following picture, I have scaned several different … Read more
Konstanz – a beautiful religious themed set! A very interesting and historical piece of Inflation 1922 notgeld, can be seen below. It is a 100m piece, issued in Konstanz Am Bodensee, which features ‘Johannes Huss’ and which is dated ’23 Oktober 1922′ Having just returned from the Czech Republic, where there is a lovely statue … Read more
At the beginning of the inflationary period, in the latter part of 1922, notes were being issued with large face values, but these larger face … Read more
Verkehrsausgaben were notgeld issues that were actually intended to go into circulation because of the shortage of small change (metal coinage). The following pieces were … Read more
This was the era when the money system, hit with crippling hyper-inflation, went crazy………….and eventually collapsed. The Reichsbank couldn’t print banknotes quick enough to keep … Read more
Prisoner of War / ‘Kriegsgefangenenlager’ Notgeld During the first world war, notes were issued by prisoner of war camps. Sometimes these camps held officers and … Read more
Series pieces……that is, pieces issued in sets or series, primarily for the collectors of the early 1920’s, are known as ‘serienscheine’. Be aware at this … Read more
Bielefeld Notgeld Collectors will hopefully have seen that some Bielefeld notgeld were issued on paper and some on linen. Here is a piece that was made on both. It is the 5m piece, catalogued under Lm.98k1&2 and Gr/Mehl-103.12&13 (paper and linen) (paper version) (linen version, showing front and back) GNCC member, Leng, has been in … Read more
Wertbestaendige notgeld………face-values for actual commodities: 15% of wertbestandige notgeld issues are in values of goods or commodities. They seem fairly scarce and are thus, fairly expensive. The note below, catalogued under ‘Cottbus’ is dated 1 September 1923, with a valid until date of 1 September 1924. That date has been stamped out and the holder … Read more
Wertbestaendige notgeld……………notes of ‘fixed’ value Wertbestaendige notgeld are those issues which have a ‘fixed’ value. Their face value is either in dollars US or ‘gold’ … Read more
Some notgeld have the word ‘Baustein‘ on them. What are ‘Baustein’ pieces? Emergency money pieces that were issued to help fund the building, extension or renovation of a building, are known as Baustein (‘building-brick/block’). They are usually quite scarce and attract quite high prices. The translation of Baustein is “brick” but in this context I prefer … Read more
Please be careful……. This article is predominantly aimed at the notgeld issues,….. but I also include a couple of Reichsbanknotes (State issues), in the bottom … Read more
What is a ‘Muster’ or ‘Probedruck’ notgeld piece? Just because a note is missing it’s serial number, does not make it a ‘true specimen’ piece! Most of the notgeld ‘specimen’ pieces on the market are just missing a serial number, which is what most of the catalogues state against an ‘M’ (Muster / specimen) entry……..which … Read more
Serienscheine notgeld with overprints The 2 pieces illustrated above, show 2 serienscheine overprints, one for 500m and the other for 1000m. Originally these pieces had face values of 50pf, but due to the hyper-inflation that was hitting the German economy, that original face value was worthless and was therefore overstamped with the higher value. These … Read more
The 3 ‘Ruhrtaler’ pieces – (anti-French propaganda notes!) Several collectors have asked me about these interesting pieces……. From my very knowledgeable notgeld colleagues, Kai Lindman & Beate Rauch, I have managed to glean the following info about them: The Ruhrtaler notes were issued in 1922, but we don´t know where (see info below though). They … Read more
Uncut sheets of notgeldscheine Very desirable amongst notgeld collectors, are sheets of notgeld that have remained uncut. When notgeld were printed in the different printing houses and firms across Germany, usually they would have been inspected and then cut up into individual notes and then stamped with their serial numbers or been passed through the … Read more
Additional information, for my GNCC members. Here is an interesting note issued in Coburg and dating from 1919. The artist’s name, Heinz Schiestl, appears on the reverse along with a picture of ‘a black knight’. This following note from Oberschlesien is quite interesting. It catalogues as Gr/Mehl-1001.1:.I think it is a ‘plebiscite’ notgeld issue. In … Read more