FS: German linen / silk / velvet notgeld

[paul...@gmail.com]

One interest aspect of German notgeld issued in the early 20th century
is that you can find pieces that are made from odd materials. The
German government stopped enforcing the laws regarding the central
bank as being the sole issuing authority for currency and many towns
printed their own. The odd types of material beyond the usual
colorful and plentiful paper notgeld include aluminum foil, soft
leather, shoe heel leather, velvet, linen, silk, pergamine.

Bielefeld was a textile producing town and so of course they
gravitated to silk and linen currency. When I visited Germany last
year I visited Bielefeld and someone arranged for me to speak with the
bank historian for Stadtsparkasse Bielefeld. Indeed, this is the bank
that actually issued the odd and unusual notes. I spent a
fascinating two hours with the bank historian and learned much that I
never knew. I was also treated to a viewing o some of the notes saved
by the bank.

It turns out that Mr. Paul Kahlka (?sp?) was the bank president at the
time, and he latched onto the idea of printing currency on silk, linen
and more. There were expiration dates for these notes that might have
been publicized in newspapers, or over radio. That aside, Mr. Kahlka
was also a German super patriot who took immeasurable offense at the
handling of Germany by the Allies of WWI. He was intimately involved
with the designs of the notes and you can discern what I would term a
propaganda theme in many of the Bielefeld issues. Note that Mr. Kahlka
nearly ran the bank into ruin when he deliberately issued currency
after the central German government was making serious efforts to get
the economic chaos under control.

Beyond Bielefeld, towns like Osterwieck produced soft leather notes.
Some POW camps produced linen currency that often ended up being very
worn. Possneck produced notes on shoe heel leather. Breslau
produced a note in linen.........and the list goes on.

Interested in seeing examples? Purchasing? Go to:
Ephesus Numismatics
http://www.vcoins.com/world/ephesus/store/whatsnew.asp

Enjoy!

Paul Landsberg