As many of you know, I have a strong interest in WWII Germany and it's history. I own quite a few high grade Third Reich coins and I would like to own some paper currency and such as well. I happened across these on eBay the other day and I find them interesting...but I know very little about them. Best I can tell is...they are war bonds that would have been redeemable in 1950 and 1951. Is that what they are and do they have any value. I really like them and think they would be a neat in a paper collection...but have no idea what they are worth or if they are even collectible. Any advice? http://www.ebay.com/itm/German-Nazi...1164346128?pt=Paper_Money&hash=item3a7a8fc710 http://www.ebay.com/itm/German-Nazi...1164344652?pt=Paper_Money&hash=item3a7a8fc14c http://www.ebay.com/itm/German-Nazi...1164347382?pt=Paper_Money&hash=item3a7a8fcbf6
I've never seen anything like those before. There is certainly a market for American bonds, ration books, etc. from the same era, although their collectibility extends beyond numismatists. I know a guy that ONLY collects stocks, bonds, and historic commercial paper and doesn't touch coins or notes. If you buy some make sure to post them on here, I'd be interested in seeing better quality pictures.
These are bond coupons. If you want to get into WWII paper money and bonds get a copy of WWII Remembered by Schwan and Boiling. Almost 20 years old but still the best general reference for the period.
Bond coupons were turned in by the holder to collect the interest due on the bond. Thankfully few if any of the holders collected interest on them.
You might do some looking around in eBay's stock and bond section, could be you'd find these same ones with the bond included. To my understanding, folks want the bond itself, preferably with all the coupons, and of course in mint condition, as collectibles. Dave
When WWII ended the records and documents of the Reichsbank fell into the hands of the Russians who eventually passed down whatever the Russians had no need for to the East German government. This would include hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of worthless bonds and other fiscal documents. These documents passed into the hands of the Bundesbank after German unification in 1990. In 2008 or 2009 the collectible documents (bonds, scrip, whatever) were sold by the Bundesbank in large lots. These documents have found there way into the collecting community and you will now find thousands of different types of pre-WWII and WWII era bonds available in the marketplace. Just take a look at the scripophily section of Ebay and you will see no end of these items available at a wide range of prices. To my knowledge there is no reference book that covers all of the various items. There are books on the bonds and scrip of the Konversionskasse (Conversion Office of German Foreign Debts), Steuergutscheine (tax vouchers) and Bedarfsdeckungschein (family assistance vouchers) but these are in German. There is a book that came out earlier this year on financial instruments of the war years in Germany but it covers just about everything other than bonds.
