Most of us know the small German paper notes issued by German towns after World War I as "notgeld," but here is a term (new to me) I found today in Wikipedia. "...Bielefeld was one of several towns that printed very attractive and highly collectable banknotes with designs on silk, linen and velvet. These pieces were issued by the Bielefeld Stadtsparkasse (town's savings bank) and were sent all around the world in the early 1920s. These pieces are known as 'stoffgeld' – that is, money made from fabric."
This particular piece of notgeld does not qualify as stoffgeld but thought I'd share it due to the history of the Emden. World War I naval operations have fascinated me since my youth and to have found this note really made me smile. == reverse == face
Are the Stoffgeld's very valuable? And do they come in different denominations? Thanks for the thread.
Linen notgeld are not valuable for their fabric, they got value just like any other numismatic item, depends on rarity and popularity among collectors. The one I posted is 500 mark from Bielefeld. There are also 25 pfennig, 25/50/1000/10000 mark from there. I don't think I ever saw silk or velvet notes, I`d guess they`re rare and worth more because of the material.
Hi guys: I'm not an expert on notgeld but I have loads of them. In addition to the regular paper notes I have a set of wooden notgeld from Hadersfeld, Austria. I scanned one here which is a 10 Heller value and I also have a 20 and 50 to complete the set. I have seen other materials used for notgeld such as leather and a form of gelatin also. I was fortunate to come across a neighbor who had an uncut sheet of silk notgeld from Bielefeld. I bought one of the two sheets that he owned and had it framed and matted. I'll post that photo as well. Rich
Yes, the word "Stoffgeld" exists but it is certainly not common. Probably because there are not many collectors who are after textile notgeld only. Christian
Trading Green, thanks for sharing; very nice sheet! "somewhere" I have some notgeld which I acquired many years ago out of a dealer bargain box for $1. I'll see what I can find but I'm certain there are no stoffgeld .
Many of the Bielefeld notes, including the one from Taxidermist, are considered Anti-Semitic notes. I don't recall the exact reference but that particular note shows something about a bare breasted Jewish woman carrying bags of German money. I believe that it had something to do with her "spoiling the gold" of the Germans. You can see them in the back ground voicing their objections as she smiles at them. Those were bad days for sure with the Nazi's.
Knew I had some notgeld. Here is my entire accumulation (can't call it a collection) == face ==reverse of above == face == reverse Someday I'll run across a reference so I can figure out what they are.
Those are all from Austria denominated in heller. The last two in the first picture used to be listed in the specialized Pick catalog.
Thanks, lettow. Since I don't collect them just never got around to cataloging. Guess I should change my ways and log ALL of them.
Some of the notgeld notes certainly had antisemitic themes; not sure about this one though. The woman that takes the money bags away symbolizes the stock exchange ("Dich lieben wir, Börse" etc.). Whether the guy on the right is supposed to be a Jew, no idea; the man on the right is Uncle Sam. Maybe people back in those days understood all those biblical references. Also keep in mind that those notes were issued as souvenirs - the city of Bielefeld celebrated its 700th anniversary in 1921. Later it turned out that they were a few years off. Christian
