After WWI, Germany was plunged into one of the worst inflations ever to hit a western country as the government struggled with the truly massive punitive damages demanded by the Treaty of Versailles. During this brief period of hyper-inflation, people who did not convert their savings into tangible assets lost them completely . Many bank accounts were closed because even large pre-war sums of 100,000 Marks were no longer worth even the price of a postage stamp. The middle class was by and large reduced to poverty, theft and petty crime soared, pensions became worthless and many people starved to death.
The stable Rentenmark was introduced in November 1923 in a reform by Hjalmar Schacht to replace the worthless Reichsmark. The Reichsmark was re-introduced the next year in a stabilised form and remained in that form until the introduction of the Deutsche Mark in 1948. (Note that Hitler had no involvement whatsoever over any of these events and it is sad that even some historians confuse Schacht's tenure as President of the Reichsbank in 1923 during the currency reform with his reappointment to that position many years later under Hitler.)
An interesting by-product of this period was the rich variety of banknotes churned out from each town, displaying values of anything up to 100,000,000,000,000 marks.
There were two main types of inflationary banknote printed. Standard Reichsbank notes, and what is known as notgeld (a German word meaning "emergency money"). The Reichsbank notes were issued by the central bank in Berlin, while notgeld was printed by city banks, small towns, all manner of public bodies, the German railway departments and even private companies.
The good thing about collecting German money from this period is that while some notes can be priced into the thousands of dollars, you can still pick up many of the commonest Reichsbank notes in pristine condition for just a few dollars.
While there are hundreds of thousands of notgeld available to collect, i only show a very small fraction here. If your interest is now at a point where you would love to see more - i invite you on a tour around Germany and though time by visiting my friend Kyle at GermanNotgeld.com. This unique and beautiful website details thousands of notgeld notes from around Germany. The site is well worth taking a look through if you have some time. Each note is split out by city and by series if applicable. While most notgeld were printed on a heavy paper, some were printed on silk, aluminum foil and even bark. GermanNotgeld.com shows some of these more obscure types.
Notgeld literature - Most notgeld literature and books are published by and written in German. There are some in English, but the best refference materials are only available in German. While there are many books available, the books i use most are 'A Guide and Checklist World Notgeld 1914-1947, by Coffing'. Another good book is actually a series of books, 'Deutsches Notgeld, by Gietl-Verlag publishing. I have bands 1, 2 5 and 6.
I am still looking for a book on notgeld that goes into detail about the subject matter of each piece. Not just where the note is from, but what is the significance of the rock in the image, or the wood carving or person. While alot of notes depicted allegorical themes - what is it saying? If the image on the note is historical, what is it? Not being from Germany, i do not know alot of their history, their culture, there tales and legends ect. A good book that describes each notgeld would be nice, but untill then, i will do my best to describe what i find.
Types of 'Emergency Money(Notgeld)' From the book 'A Guide and Checklist World Notgeld 1914-1947, by Coffing'
Type - Reference #
Municipal paper -1
Private paper -2
POW Paper -3
POW Official metal -4
POW Private Metal -5
Municipal metal -6
Private Metal -7
Gas Tokens -8
Food, Beer Konsumverein -9
Naval. Military, Kantine -10
Encased, unencased postage stamps -11
Streetcar Tokens -12
Porcelain -13
World War II Issues -14
Concentration, Civillian Internement Camps -15
Rarity Grades: (values are approximate)
A-up to $25
B-up to $60
C-up to$125
D-up to $200
E-up to $350
So, for example, a note from the German Town of Altena, in Westfalen, issued notes of types 1a, 2a, 7b, and 11b:
1- Municipal Paper
2- Private Paper
7- Private Metal
11- Encased, Unencased Postage Stamps
As Rarity Grade A, type 1 and 2 you would expect to find the prices to be up to $25 or less.
As Rarity Grade B, type 7 and 11 you would expect to find the prices to be up to $60 and less
NOTE: Any price guide is subject to errors as time passes from date of writing and market fluctuations.
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