Is Notgeld Worth Anything

Coinosaurus

A friend of mine just gave me stack of German currency brought back by his father (an American solider in WWII) from Germany. Any potential value or is mostly junk?

Aethelred

I would not call it junk, but most of it does not have a great deal of value right now. Having said that it is historic and often very attractive, so on that basis I would say that it could form an interesting collection.

coinkat

Are there any silk or linen Bielefeld items?

satootoko

<< <i>Is Notgeld Worth Anything? >>

Of course. Everything is worth something, just frequently not very much, as with most notgeld.

Coinosaurus

Thanks. I think I'll show it around at the ANA. Who are right dealers for this sort of thing?

ASUtodd

PM sent

spoon

I'm out of the loop on who will be at the ANA, but most serious currency dealers should be able to help at least give you an idea. Heck, if you can toss some representative scans or lists our way I'm sure we can help you figure things out

Since there are just so many notgeld issues out there aren't many places to find comprehensive listings for free. That said, one of the leading experts in notgeld has a website, seemingly out of date and lacking pics, and in German, but it is useful nonetheless once you figure out how to navigate it to get an idea of which are the better items. LINK


BTW, that one posted by Willie ain't too shabby. That's a popular series and I've seen individual notes fetch around €15. It commemorates the postwar loss of the colonies - Gedenkt unser Kolonien ~ In remembrance of our colonies. (and IIRC it's from Hamburg) Each note features a businessman who was prominent in the push for colonization. I've got one somewhere around here...

Edit - here it is, same reverse:

WillieBoyd2

I just got this one from the same African series:

This note features General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck of the East African theater of World War I.



"v.Lettow-Vorbeck" is Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck.
Gedenkt unserer kolonien
Remember our colonies



Notgeld, 75 pfennigs, 1921, 73mm x 104mm (3" x 4").

Deutsch-Hanseatischer Kolonial Gedenktag - Berlin Bremen Hamburg
Dieser Kolonial Gutschein verliert mit dem 31 März 1922 seine Gultigkeit.
Die Geschäftsführung

German-Hanseatic Colonial Memorial Day - Berlin Bremen Hamburg
This colonial credit note loses its value on 31 März 1922.
The management

nicholasz219

Notgeld is an area of numismatics that demonstrates a major problem endemic to the whole hobby. There are certain areas where you can not find any information online. Even books (like in my specialty, Russian Imperial coinage) are published in their native languages which makes it difficult for non native speakers to access that information.

I bought about thirty or forty pieces of Notgeld at the ANA Chicago show in 1991. I haven't probably looked at it in ten years or more. If there was a website out there with information published that would be ideal. I don't think that anyone wants to pay $60 or more for a reference book for a side collection. I wish that there was more information out there available on the computer.

I went to the link posted and all I read was a 404 Object Not Found error.

Edited in humility:

I just found a site that may be of interest:

German Notgeld

Notgeld Site #2

Chicago Coin Club Article

WillieBoyd2