Bielefeld's emergency coinage program of 1923 was genuinely unusual — the city issued notgeld in materials ranging from linen to compressed rye, making this copper-nickel-zinc piece the comparatively conventional option. The "Not Goldmark" designation attempted to peg the token's value to gold during the hyperinflation crisis, a local workaround to the collapse of the paper mark that was evaporating purchasing power by the hour that year.
Funck 633.1 and KM M110.1 both document this as a pattern rather than a circulation strike, meaning it likely never functioned as the stabilization instrument it was designed to be.
Bielefeld's emergency coinage program of 1923 was genuinely unusual — the city issued notgeld in materials ranging from linen to compressed rye, making this copper-nickel-zinc piece the comparatively conventional option. The "Not Goldmark" designation attempted to peg the token's value to gold during the hyperinflation crisis, a local workaround to the collapse of the paper mark that was evaporating purchasing power by the hour that year.
Funck 633.1 and KM M110.1 both document this as a pattern rather than a circulation strike, meaning it likely never functioned as the stabilization instrument it was designed to be.