Bielefeld Notgeld

The name Bielefeld is derived from the old name bileveld, which means "hilly field".

The Bielefeld town savings bank (stadtsparkasse) issued many of its notgeld pieces on materials (stoffgeld) such as linen, silk and velvet, as well as the more common paper issues. Many of these issues had lace and embroidery edging which were quite elaborate. Surely, most collectors would keep these lovely pieces, rather than redeeming them at their face value, thought the town savings bank? (A bright idea the bank had come up with).

The top note depicted here is made of a fine linen cloth and is of the value 1/2 a goldmark. The 2nd note depicted shows the reverse of the note, but has been taken from the paper issue. The last note shows the obverse of the 1Goldmark note. The reverse is similar to the half goldmark note but has the orange/yellow/purple colours. The child holding the turnip, is a reference to the many turnip fields that were in this area. The Bielefeld turnip fields had played an important role in feeding the population, especially in the hard winter months of the war. The date of issue for the notes was 24 November 1923. They have a redemption date on the reverse of 16-31.3.1924.

I currently have 8 different paper wertbestandiges pieces, 6 different fine linen wertbestandiges pieces, 8 different velvet pieces, 8 different jute/sacking material and 69 different linen and silk pieces, some with different edgings ..... .........all from Bielefeld. I have 143 different pieces in total issued in Bielefeld. My favourite pieces of Bielefeld stoffgeld though, are the silk/linen 100m pieces, of which I have 72 different! They were issued for the 700 year 1221-1921 jubilee celebration of the city of Bielefeld on 15 July 1921. Bielefeld did not issue leather pieces. If you see the letters 'PR RUST' on some of the notes, pricked through the paper, it stands for the names of the 3 Buergermeisters, Pries, Ruscher & Stapenhorst. There is a book which shows some of these notes in colour entitled 'Das Geld der mageren Jahre', written by Guenter Gerke - (The currency of the meagre years). A couple of the illustrated embroidered pieces were made for the town saving's bank director, Paul Hanke. The pieces were made for his own personal collection and as such, are fairly unique and very expensive when they come up for sale at auction!