During World War I, there was a moment when the metal that coins were made in Austria and Germany became more valuable than the money it represented. People began hoarding coins, and during the war, the metal which was available was needed for the war.
The shortage of metal meant people were having trouble making change. So individual cities, local banks and citizen's organizations began to take it on themselves to print what were called "Notgeld," which means "emergency money" or "necessity money", mostly colorful paper notes in low denominations (although they also used linen, tin foil, porcelain, and coal, to name a few unusual materials).
Notgeld began during the war and carried on into the period before and slightly overlapping the height of hyperinflation, when it literally took a wheelbarrow of money to buy eggs, which happened in the early 1920s.
Beautifully-designed, people began to collect them. And, since people collected the pretty ones, there began to be some competition about who could produce the prettiest.
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