Hey everyone! Had a friend text me a couple photos of some porcelain Notgeld sets. As I'm not an expert on them, figured I'd ask the board for some help. Any information/links/approximate values would be greatly appreciated. If any extra photos are required, please feel free to let me know.
Here numista is your friend. Search the pages and you'll come across them under notgeld. http://en.numista.com/catalogue/allemagne-pre1945-2.html#devise527 I haven't purchased any porcelain pieces but I do have this monster
Also if you Google search the denomination as notgeld and put numista at the end it should bring up the numista page for any particular coin. EBay is also a good place for values.
Yeah, I'm more familiar with the gilt versions like you have (seen a couple) but the 7 and 6-coin sets I haven't seen before. I have been googling it and coming up with similar results, was more interested in finding an expert (or at least someone more familiar with the exact sets than I am) with more specific information. Looks like Heritage sold a similar set here: And there are a couple similar (but not exact) sets here: and here:
I like how Porcelain translates to Porzellan in German. Sounds neater I like to study words translations and origins.
The German word "Porzellan" has an interesting origin by the way. It comes from the Italian "porcellana" which can refer to a little pig (sow) or a maritime snail (same as a cowry snail, I think). Apparently people believed that the fine Chinese porcelain was made using such snails, or maybe it was used to describe the color and surface ... Another term which may be more appropriate for such notgeld pieces is Steinzeug (stoneware). Both Meissen and Höhr (today part of Höhr-Grenzhausen, RP) are famous centers of porcelain and stoneware production. Don't know about the possible value of those sets, but I suppose that such sets which even come with the (probably original) box are worth more than the single coins. Christian
Side note - the notgeld pieces from Höhr have a symbol that may be familiar to those who are acquainted with pre-decimal British coins ... It is a "d" written the same way that in proofreading is or was used for "deleatur" (text/characters to be deleted). Here however it means "denarius", i.e. penny. Nah, Pfennig. Christian
These are porcelain? As in, the same stuff as my teacup? How were they made? I assume they were pressed and then kilned? Were they actually intended to circulate? (and/or, did they actually circulate?) Why were these made? And, for the ultra-newb question.... what is "notgeld"? (I'm, uh, asking for a friend, he doesn't know anything about this stuff...)
They were made in post WWI germany when the mark was virtually useless. The coin I posted is made of tombac and others where made from aluminum and lead also. Note the 10000 mark denomination as well due to hyperinflation. Porcelain was used as I can only assume because it was cheaper than using metal for lower denominations. I know there were a lot of different designs and many of them being quite rare. These coins are very interesting from a historical standpoint imho because they show the rough economic circumstances through post WWI germany which would be one of the factors that gave way for Hitler and the Nazis to rise to power. Correct or add to any of this if I'm mistaken or missing something else as I don't collect these too often. As for how they were made, I have no clue. Notgeld is german for emergency money I believe.
Right, the German "Not" does not mean "not" but need or emergency, and "Geld" is money. But I think that the German term "Notgeld" is fairly common among English language collectors of such items too. The Saxony pieces did actually circulate to some extent. Due to their size and composition (typically brown porcelain) they did not break as easily as your regular plate or cup would. Elsewhere other "odd" materials were used, such as linen or silk for notgeld banknotes. But of course it was mostly metals for coins and paper/cotton for bills. Notgeld was mostly issued by local authorities (cities, counties, etc.) primarily due to a lack of change. Later they "discovered" that even back then collectors found such issues interesting. So the bills got fancier, more colorful, depicting local people or legends ... hoping that people would "buy" them and never turn them in. And that worked in many cases. Christian
