Notgeld

What is the difference between Notgeld and Token

 I thought 

Notgeld - emergency issue 

Token - general issue 

 Something like that. 

I also wish to hear a good explanation of the delineation, as I frequently add pages to this area.  My best guess based on acceptance/rejection/changes to my submissions are:

Generally, for the German items, if it appears in the Funck catalog it holds notgeld/coin status at Numista. If only appearing in the Menzel catalog, the item seems relegated to token/exonumia status.

This is a good topic for the notgeld referees like katermurr to better discuss.

Notgeld: a token-form (token, paper, cardboard, etc.) of money issued by an entity to make up for the lack of official money; most of the time during conflict/war times, period of shortage of materials (copper, etc.). It can be issued by public entities (chambers of commerce, public banks, etc.) or private entities (hardware store, bakery, etc.).

Token: can be a notgeld eventually but can also be “anything” else: advertising token, automatic machine token, etc.

pejounet gives a good definition. 

For the german Notgeld we have to main catalogues: 

FUNCK → Only ‘official’ Notgelds. All the references are in the coin section.

MENZEL: list all ‘Notgelds’ : “Official”,  “Privat” and POW camp money (which is on Numista in the Exonumia section).

Generally Notgeld is accepted by more then one shop/business (used/accepted from all shops in a town for ex.) 

Token is generally only accepted by the Issuing entity 

Thankyou all for your input

i had assumed that a token was a copy of a notgeld printed at some later stage for collectors only and of no trade value

That is why they are generally UNC

does anyone have a token that has been heavily circulated to prove me wrong

pejounet

Notgeld: a token-form (token, paper, cardboard, etc.) of money issued by an entity to make up for the lack of official money; most of the time during conflict/war times, period of shortage of materials (copper, etc.). It can be issued by public entities (chambers of commerce, public banks, etc.) or private entities (hardware store, bakery, etc.).

 

Token: can be a notgeld eventually but can also be “anything” else: advertising token, automatic machine token, etc.

This makes me curious about something. As someone who studies SE Asian currency, using this definition why aren’t the Pathet Lao issues of 1968 P19A-P24 considered notgeld? They were issued in time of war, printed in China (not Lao) for only a particular group in Lao. Yes, they were eventually used throughout Lao starting in 1975 but mostly due to the absence of a national bank which finally issued a nationalized currency in 1979.  I’m not seeing how Pick categorized these issues as a national issues when they were used as a national currency when and only when there was a cessation of hostilities and no other forms of currency were available from a national bank. I have also not seen any evidence that any of these notes were printed after 1975 for general use throughout the country. If anyone has information about this, I would love to know which prefixes were used to denote a “national currency”.

I view notgeld as emergency money produced between World War I and the end of the Weimar Republic in Europe.  While this includes tokens, tokens in general started as a substitute for cash long before the term “notgeld” was used. I also believe “notgeld,” which literally means “not money” was a way to get around counterfeiting laws. It was similar to the “Not One Cent” used on many US Civil War tokens.

Interesting aside: The original New York City subway tokens were issued when the fare went up to 15 cents (they couldn't figure-out how to make turnstiles accept two coins as payment). 

No it doesn't mean ‘not money’ … the closed etymologically related word, with an at least similar meaning, would be ‘need money’.

Notgeld tends to be small denomination notes which would replace coinage.

Strictly speaking, Notgeld applies to the listing of emergency notes & token coins from Austria & Germany from during World War I to 1923, given the fact that the word ‘Notgeld’ is a German word.

Kriegsgeld (War money) can also be included as Notgeld as well.

Aidan.

BCNumismatics

Strictly speaking, Notgeld applies to the listing of emergency notes & token coins from Austria & Germany from during World War I to 1923, given the fact that the word ‘Notgeld’ is a German word.

 

Kriegsgeld (War money) can also be included as Notgeld as well.

 

Aidan.

Strictly speaking, there is also French notgeld.

Polish notgeld too, issued after 1919. Some issues are bilingual in Polish and German, and some entirely in Polish.

I'm hardly an expert on the subject but even casual observation shows that at least three somewhat different things are being called “Notgeld” within the German/Austrian sphere alone.

- WWI emergency issues, generally dated no later than the late 1910s.  Most often simple or crude designs.  Intended to circulate in the absence of “regular" money.

- Post-WWI issues intended for collectors or as advertising, dated to early 1920s.  These have much more elaborate designs and may have novelties like odd denominations or unusual materials.  Often not intended to circulate or have any real value at all (I have some that declare in no uncertain terms that the note is valueless).  Always in small denominations, often produced in a series by an “issuer” (ex. 10, 25, and 50 Pfg.).

- Local inflation issues in sometimes very large denominations.  One would logically guess that these were produced as a stopgap for lack of appropriately denominated notes during hyperinflation but many of these also have elaborate and beautiful designs and are often inexpensive in UNC condition which leads me to suspect they were also still produced with collectors in mind - but I have seen many circulated examples as well.  Perhaps worth mentioning that German/Austrian banknote/Notgeld collecting was evidently popular enough that some WWI POW camps produced collector issues of the confinement vouchers used by inmates.

This isn't even touching on local and emergency issues from other European countries sometimes also referred to as Notgeld, including on this site.  The fancy collector notes seem much more common from German speaking lands, however.

Liechtenstein's 10, 20, & 50 Heller notes are also Notgeld as well, but as they were issued by the Government of Prince Johann II, they are also regarded as proper banknotes as well - which is why they were listed in Pick.

Aidan.

The Polish for Notgeld is Pieniądz, which is the currently used term for small change, including 10 and 20 Złoty notes.

[Curiously, pieni is a Finnish word meaning small - not relevant to the topic, but more of a fun fact].

Hibernia

The Polish for Notgeld is Pieniądz, which is the currently used term for small change, including 10 and 20 Złoty notes.

[Curiously, pieni is a Finnish word meaning small - not relevant to the topic, but more of a fun fact].

Perhaps ‘Pieni’ is where ‘Penni’ comes from.

Aidan.

More likely that Penni comes from some form of Penny, or its Swedish equivalent.

Hibernia

More likely that Penni comes from some form of Penny, or its Swedish equivalent.

Or comes from ‘Pfennig’ - which is German.

Aidan.

Why speculate, the etymology of the word is evidently documented:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/penny

In summary, the word is not borrowed but descended to modern English via Old and Middle English directly.  It is, however, derived from the same proto-Germanic root as Pfennig and some other cognates so it's no coincidence multiple Germanic languages use a similar word.