German Districts of Birkenfeld and Trier Fifty Million Mark Notgeld
Entry/Object ID
1988.087.043
Description
German Districts of Birkenfeld and Trier Fifty Million Mark Notgeld. Accession number written on reverse in bottom right corner.
Context
Notgeld is money issued by an institution in a time of economic or political crisis. The issuing institution is usually one without official sanction from the central government. This occurs usually when sufficient state-produced money is not available from the central bank. Most notably, notgeld generally refers to money produced in Germany and Austria during World War I and the Interbellum. Issuing institutions could be a town's savings banks, municipality and private or state-owned firms. Nearly all issues contained an expiry date, after which time they were invalid. Issues without dates ordinarily had an expiry announced in a newspaper or at the place of issuance.
