coupons or currency or what??????

[randomclark]

Gang, I'm trying to figure out what these are. My dad brought them back from Europe at war's end and put dozens of them in a binder. and, are they considered "collectible"?

thanks

[byterock]

Late first War emergency notes from 1917~21 or Notgeld to use the German term. Many cities printed these up by the 10s of millions. Most worth a few $$ some rare ones much more.

[randomclark]

Late first War emergency notes from 1917~21 or Notgeld to use the German term. Many cities printed these up by the 10s of millions. Most worth a few $$ some rare ones much more.

so, even tho they were from the timeframe of 1917-1921 they were still in use during WWII? just wondering why my dad would have come across them in the early-mid 40's.

[Gerdan]

I think this will help you:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notgeld

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notgeld

Gerdan

[FreeRange]

Cool! I knew stamps were used as currency at one point...but never looked into it more. Thanks for posting a photo of the notes!

Even if most of them aren't high value...I think they are quite fascinating.

[CWP]

so, even tho they were from the timeframe of 1917-1921 they were still in use during WWII? just wondering why my dad would have come across them in the early-mid 40's.

These were not in use during WWII. He must have found them in a home or something. Many soldiers took whatever interested them from towns they passed through.

[pauke]

paper

They are probably best enjoyed as you have them in a binder. I have a lot that I got years ago for pennies. One detail that is interesting is that they sometimes have a "valid until" date on them like the first image upper right where the 50 Pfennig note was issued 1 April 1921 and is valid until 31 Oct. of that year.

[Byzanti]

I bought a couple recently, they arent worth much more than a few dollars, but there are some that are pretty rare. I just wanted them for the art and history -as you have them...the cool thing about it besides being emergency currency and the art, is the significance of some of the pictures and captions, and of course the fact that they ran as face value i think into the trilions...really cool. hopefully their value increases someday. Ill try to post some pics when i can- thanks for yours!

[randomclark]

great info gang...........looks like I have yet another fun research project on my hands; one of several since deciding to learn about and figure out proper disposition of my dad's "stuff" from WWII. if you look at my threads you'll see what a great help this forum has been......THANKS!!!!

[byterock]

Look at some more info on Notgeld and I found that they where an immediate hit with world wide collectors and there where printed up long after 1920s.

They where printed up on all sorts of stuff aluminum, silk etc. One set was all the Rhine castles.

They where never 'legal' currency it wasn't till the early 30s that they where finally suppressed.

These sort of things are still created and collected still exists and are now usually coins (token better word) for some sort of event. The Calgary Stampede is a good example.