Church bells became cannons, coins became ammunition: All metals were collected for the armaments industry during the First World War. Because the material value of a coin was greater than the face value, there was hardly any coin in circulation. In order to be able to pay small amounts at all, municipalities and cities printed their own money. The Ibmer Moor Moor Museum (Municipality of Moosdorf) is dedicating a special exhibition to emergency money as part of the International Museum Week. Opening is on Saturday, May 7th.
No legal money
“In difficult times – take emergency money ready” is written on the emergency money note from the municipality of Eggelsberg from 1920. It shows the former Ibm Castle. Other emergency money notes from Moosdorf, Feldkirchen, Geretsberg, Tarsdorf, St. Pantaleon, Haigermoos, Lamprechtshausen and Ostermiething will be on display. Business with the new money, which was not legal, flourished in Ostermiething: more than 300 different emergency money notes were printed there. Why? The bills were beautifully designed, mostly by an artist. Too beautiful to spend for many.
passion for collectors
This help in need aroused the fun of collecting for many. “The communities received money from merchants for these emergency money notes, which were then to be redeemed by the citizens from the merchants. And then the collectors came – and didn’t return the emergency money notes,” says Johann Gann. The Flachgauer has been dealing with emergency money notes for several decades. There were 70,000 certificates in Austria, the Flachgauer owns 11,000, mainly from the Innviertel and from Salzburg communities.
Design whoops
In order to keep the collectors happy, the communities were quite inventive in the design. Many dedicated artists, some with design whoops: “In Lamprechtshausen, an artist was commissioned to draw the church in Arnsdorf with a reference to Franz Xaver Gruber’s birthplace. However, he was born in Hochburg-Ach. The artist had to pay 2,000 crowns for his mistake back to the community,” says Gann.
Opening hours: May 7, from 2 p.m. (opening), May 8 to 14, daily from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., May 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Source: Nachrichten
