Dear Experts, Hello again! Happy new year to all! I was trying to find online information on the purpose/style (just basically any information) of perforating banknotes. An example of perforated banknote: Non-perforated banknotes (no holes): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Germany-Bielefeld-3-Million-Mark-Notgeld-N-L-AU-graffiti-3103-/141812400727 Perforated banknotes on the top right of the same banknotes (a column of punched holes on the right): http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i8Lhr1UWr...d0xQ4/s1600/Bielefeld+3+M+M+Aug+11+1923+F.jpg Any information is greatly appreciated... I am trying to learn the history/reason behind perforating banknotes while collecting at the sametime. Thank you! Best regards
Mods should move thus to the paper money forum so it gets more exposure. I do not know the answer, but am sure interested.
Hello phankis11, I agree with you. I apologize for creating this by accident under Introduction and I was struggling to find ways to move this to Paper Money section. If someone can help move this to Paper Money section, that will be helpful! Many thanks in advance. Best regards
It is almost invariably the case that any formal perforation is either a cancellation of a note that circulated or an example of a specimen note that was never intended to be spendable. Sometimes the word perforated is in fact 'Specimen' or the equivalent in the local language such as 'Muster'. Some issued notes were cancelled by cutting the signatures, others were hole perforated to cancel them. Random pinholes are another matter. Both Indian and French notes are often pinholed due to bank clerks habits.
In India the Reserve Bank stapled notes in bundles before they were distributed - it is incredibly difficult to find older notes without any holes at all - they were usually only notes that were saved for a collector or VIP. Only very recently, ie the last decade or so have they discontinued the practice of staple bundling the notes. A lot of Czech and Slovak notes from ca. 1920-1946 were officially perforated to cancel them then they were sold into the collector market.
Dear experts, Many thanks for your reply! So perforation was done to cancel the "validity" of the circulated banknote in other words so that it no longer can be used. I assume this is actually the same as stamping "Invalid" text on the banknote itself. One such example, I just managed to find online: http://www.poinsignon-numismatique....15-11-1918-cachet-ungultig_article_55509.html Many thanks again! Best regards
I have been reading about fractional postage currency and several of the 1st and 2nd early issues were perforated. To me it seems logical as an easy to separate w/o cutting but that is just a simple man's observation, there must be more to it than that?
To be sure, the perforation in the Bielefeld banknote in the first post looks a bit like Braille. By the way, there's a blindstamp in the left upper corner (maybe a post stamp pushing through an envelope though). Could you look again at the note with this in mind, numismatic_bernard?
You're exactly right, BTM -- early fractionals were perforated just like stamps, to make them easier for banks and merchants to separate and circulate. But most were trimmed with scissors anyway, so in the end the Treasury did away with perforations (which were hard to keep centered, anyway) and just issued imperforate sheets.
Dear all, Thanks for your input! Dear Pellinore, That's a very good observation as I did not spot the blindstamp on the image. Unfortunately, I don't have my banknote with me right now. The banknote in the picture was just used as a reference. Having a look at the other examples of the same banknote (but without perforation cause I cannot seem to find any other different image online with perforation), I can't see any blindstamp. Examples are: http://www.banknoteworld.it/images/GERMANY/REGION/B/GERM REG-BIELEFELD-2603R-1923.jpg http://www.ebay.com/itm/Germany-Bie...03-/141812400727?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368 http://www.ebay.com/itm/GERMANY-BAN...AU-/221963522127?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368 This is very strange. I will let you know once I get to see my banknote. Thank you once again! Best regards
By the way, Bielefeld Notgeld is one of the most interesting subjects of all the German 'banknotes' of 1918-1923. Bielefeld had been a centre of cloth making for centuries, and the local City Bank decided it could make some money in those hard times by producing the best, most humorous, most interesting types of small change notes - that was what Notgeld was for. But from the start, there were COLLECTORS (yes, people like us!), collectors that liked all those bright and beautiful designs, and they sold quite well. To advertise the Bielefeld cloth industry the City Bank had banknotes made on linen and silk, some even embroidered, and these are the most sought after, for sale for hundreds or thousands. The designs are very attractive, informative and humorous, for instance your three million mark note mentions a 12th century tax from a farm in Bielefeld that had to deliver two barrels of honey each year to a local women's abbey, and that is what is depicted: four horsemen delivering two barrels of honey to two high-and-mighty ladies, probably the abbess and her secretary. This book about unusual German Notgeld that you can read online, will give you an idea about the matter. It is in German and English.
I have the 1, 3 and 5 million mark from this series. All of them are perforated. The perforations are the letters P, R, O and B. No idea what they mean.
PROB could be the first letters of the Latin 'Probus' which I have seen, I think, used to indicate a proof printing. THis is vague memory, not hard and fast information.
PROB is also the first four letters of PROBE, German for Proof. That's not uncommon, many Bielefeld proofs were offered for sale then.
By the way, if you want some help with a translation, that's a large part of what I do for a living (German, French, English, Dutch, Latin). I would be glad to help if you have a language question.
