Askari or anyone: Notgeld question-pics added

mact

Hi,

I don't know much about Notgeld. I was offered a collection of German Notgeld for $750 from approx 1921-1922. There are about 725-750 different notes. They say it is all the notes issued in this period. I see on ebay Notgeld of various sorts seems to sell for about $1.00 each. I would think there would be a premium for a collection

Does this seem reasonable? Where can I get more information?

thanks in advance,

Matt

notes 1
notes 2
notes 3

notes 4

Askari

That seems to me to be a very good price for a collection ... especially if that German (?) album comes along with it. Most Notgeld from that period was issued for collectors, so it should mostly be in CU ("Crisp Unc.") or AU; common notes typically go for $1.00 nowadays, but there are many especially popular and/or rare examples that can go for considerably more -- and in a collection that size there's bound to be quite a few of those. Picking up a collection like this is a great way to get started.

There are thousands upon thousands of German Notgeld -- and also Austrian Notgeld, which sometimes gets offered as German. People often collect by theme, others by city or region. Usually serious collectors purchase sets that were issued together rather than individual notes. Most Notgeld dealers will put these together as such sets.

The most popular and useful catalog is Hans Grabowski's & Manfred Mehl's Deutsches Notgeld: Deutsche Serienscheine 1918-1922; a two-volume set published by the Heinrich Gietl Verlag. Until recently it was a single volume, published annually and priced at $25 back when the Euro was about 1:1 with the Dollar, but has been expanded to include many more pictures. The most recent I have is the 2nd edn. (which cost me $50), but I believe there is a 3rd edn. out now. This catalog lists prices, denominations in each set issued, and has plenty of pictures!

For more advanced collectors, there is a much more detailed catalog -- with B&W prints of only some of the rarest pieces -- Kai Lindman's Das Deutsche Notgeld: Katalog der Serienscheine, Spendenquittungen und Bausteine, 1918-1922; Band 2: Spezialkatalog; 3rd Edn.; Sassenburg, Germany: Kolme K-Verlag, 2000. It is updated only infrequently and cost me $38 when it came out. In expanding the Grabowski & Mehl, they updated Mehl's catalog numbers to incorporate more of Lindman's work. Mehl is what most German collectors use. Yes, both are in German, but it really matters little as there is very little to read.

I can point you to a good source for both Notgeld and the books, if you like.