Short of change? Print your own
Notgeld, German for emergency money, first appeared at the beginning of World War One and was issued until 1924. Through these notes we can see the entire story of Germany’s experience with out-of-control inflation between the wars.
With the greater economic activity caused by war, the German government was unable to keep up with the increased demand for small change. To supplement government money issue, towns began to print their own forms of unofficial currency. The majority of the notes were printed on paper, but an assortment of materials such as ceramic, wood, cloth, metal foil, cardboard and leather were used. The faces of these notes feature everything from romantic folklore to the most grotesque social satire. Some of the images depicted can be a little odd or even bizarre, but with images of historic personages, buildings and scenes, they leave behind a cultural record of Germany during this period.
In 1967, the Bank’s National Currency Collection had the good fortune to acquire a large collection of notgeld from Germany and other European nations. The bulk of the collection consists of 15,567 notes from Germany and 3,901 from Austria, with very small numbers from Hungary, Belgium and Poland. At the time, the entire collection was accessioned as groups based on their countries of origin (accessioned: accepted into the collection and assigned a registration number unique to the group of objects). In order to digitize and update the National Currency Collection database, each individual note has to be assigned its own number, scanned and assessed by curatorial staff in order to update the information for each note.
As part of the project, each paper note is being carefully re-housed in acid-free, lignin-free, buffered tissue, and tagged with a new, individual accession number. The notes are being kept in their original scrapbooks in order to preserve the collection as it was assembled. Records suggest that this collection was from the estate of a Bürgermeister (“chairman of the executive council” or more commonly, mayor) who collected emergency money during WWI until the early 1930s.
This project has been in progress for some time and to date almost 7,000 notes have been rehoused, numbered and digitized. Future projects will include creating proper housings for the non-paper notes, as well as devising a conservation strategy for some of the damaged and fragile notes.
This is just one of the collection team’s many ongoing projects.
We want to hear from you! Do you have an idea for a blog post you’d like to see?
Content type(s):
Blog posts
The Museum Blog
August 6, 2024
The Bank of Canada Museum’s collection has a new addition: an artwork called Free Ride by Frank Shebageget. But why would a museum about the economy buy art?
Treaties, money and art
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Arts,
History
July 16, 2024
An item is said to have cultural value when it can be directly associated with the history, people, beliefs or rituals important to a society. It’s the same with a rai—its value can be greater depending upon who authorized it, who carved it and who subsequently owned it.
Rai: big money
By: Graham Iddon
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Economy,
Geography,
History
Grade level(s):
Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
April 18, 2024
What the stock market crash of 1929 did was starkly reveal the weaknesses of economic systems that had evolved from the unregulated capitalism of the late 19th century.
Lessons from the Great Depression
By: Graham Iddon
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Financial literacy,
History
Grade level(s):
Grade 09 / Secondary 3,
Grade 10 / Secondary 4,
Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
March 25, 2024
Newfoundland’s entry into Confederation marked the end of an era when Canadian provinces issued their own coins and paper money.
Welcoming Newfoundland to Canada
By: David Bergeron
Content type(s):
Blog posts
December 19, 2023
It’s that time of the year again—the wrap-up of the Bank of Canada Museum’s annual acquisition program. Here are a few highlights of the latest additions to the National Currency Collection.
New Acquisitions—2023 Edition
Content type(s):
Blog posts
