0-euro notes : 1 e. Belgium : Brussels Market Square

When visiting Belgium, Brussels is surely on the list of places to be.
Although it was called a 'sh*t h*le' by some people, Brussels yearly attracts millions of tourists.
Highlight of the city for sure, is the Market Square or 'Grand Place/Grote Markt'.
At walking distance from the Grand Place, in a narrow street called 'Stoofstraat', a small corner is probably the most photographed spot in the city.
'Oh but he's so small... ' is often heard among the tourists, but hey, what can you expect from a peeing toddler?

Brussels' Market Square (city hall) and Manneke Pis

But did you also know that there is more than one 'manneke pis' in Belgium?
South West of Brussels, in the city of Geraardsbergen, there is also a 'manneke pis'
Looks like there is something 'smelly' going on...

Manneke Pis, left in Brussels, right in Geraardsbergen

Both cities claim to have the oldest, original, 'real' manneke pis
The answer however is not that simple. The shown statues in both cities are in fact not that old, since both are replicas.  The one in Brussels dates from 1965 and the one in Geraardsbergen from 1985.
The original one of Brussels, is stored in the 'Bread House' at the Brussels' Grand Place. This design dates from 1619 and was made by Jerôme Duquesnoy the Elder.
Now, the original one of Geraardsbergen dates from 1459, but got stolen and was replaced by a copy in the 18th century.
So, if the original would still have been there, Geraardsbergen has the oldest design.
Now comes the tricky part, as already in 1452... the name of 'manneke pis' appears in some Brussels' documents. Although the name of the fountain was 'Juliaensken Borre' (fountain of young Julian), it was called 'manneke pis' by the people of Brussels. This fountain existed since 1388 ! but the design is not documented.

Maximilian II Emmanuel of Bavaria

In 1698 Manneke Pis got his first suit from Maximilan II Emmanuel of Bavaria
Maximilian II Emmanuel was the last governor of the Spanish Netherlands (Belgium and the Netherlands under Spanish influence). Now, Manneke Piss has over 600 different costumes.

Manneke Pis costumes

Some trivia :
* donating a suit to Manneke Pis, is rewarded with a barrel of beer (from 'draught').
* Manneke Piss was stolen 3 times, one by a British soldier, twice by French soldiers
* because of the theft by French soldiers, and in order to avoid rebellion against the French king, King Louis XV donated a golden woven suit, a hat with feathers and a sword, in 1747.
* Manneke Piss is actually a knight in the order of Saint Louis (since 1747)
* in 1817 it was stolen again, and broken. With the original pieces, a new statue was molded in 1818.

Manneke Pis in Corona-pandemic

Inflating your collection : 1 German Empire (Weimar Republic) l

In September 1923, 3 extra banknotes are prepared.
Only one makes it to circulation - Pick 110, a 500 million note.
There are 6 possible watermarks, but 8 different notes described.
Pick 110 a comes with a purple underprint on the right, and no watermark.

Pick 110 b and c with watermark D, but the 500 is orientated inwards in the b-version and outwards in the c-version (rare).
Pick 110 d, e, f, g and h are with watermarks E, L, N, M and G.

500 million note - September 1923

In the notes above, both Pick 110b - one has large serial numbers, the other one has small serial numbers - not specified in the catalogue.
Also the used lettertype is different (see both 7's)

detail of Pick 110b

Two others were ordered (the Vienna printings) but are only seen as specimen notes. I guess, there was simply not enough time to print enough notes, nor to bring them into circulation.It was a 500 Milliard-note (500,000,000,000) and a 1 Billion-note (1,000,000,000).
or in US-scale : 500 billion and one trillion.
But no worries, by mid September, new German-printed notes were ready to be distributed ...

 5 kilograms of sugar ? That's 5 kilograms of millions please.

more September notes to follow ...

Inflating your collection : 1 German Empire (Weimar Republic) k

the story goes on ...

redrawing some cach from the bank...

In 1922, a loaf of bread cost 163 Reich marks. By September 1923, during hyperinflation, the price crawled up to 1,500,000 Reich marks
Therefore, in September 1923 a sixth set of banknotes is released. This new set starts with a 20,000,000 RM note. It is printed with 6 different watermarks :

20 million RM - 6 diffferent watermarks

20 million RM - September 1923 - WM E and G

Also a 50 million RM note is printed in the same style.
It also comes with 6 different watermarks :

50 million RM - 6 different watermarks

The note with watermark D is different from the other notes, as it is printed on gray paper.

50 million RM - September 1923 WM D

The others are printed on white paper.

109c and 109b - regular note and replacement note

Pick 109c and 109b (WM L and E)

to be continued ...

Inflating your collection : 1 German Empire (Weimar Republic) j

It's still August 1923, after a 1, 2, and 5 million RM note, also a 10 million RM note is emitted.
Similar to previous notes, this one comes on watermark E, G, L and J;

Pick 106a - German Empire

watermark E

On the same day, also a 100 million RM (100,000,000 RM) is emitted. This note is documented in 6 different versions :
The first version - similar to Pick 101 and Pick 103, with a colour shade at the right side.

Pick 107a - oak leave watermark

Pick 107 b and c are with watermark, D (107b with fiber strips - 107c without) -
Pick 107 d (WM E), 107 e (WM L), 107 f (WM M) and 107 g (WM N).

two examples of 100 Million RM : Pick 107e and 107f

Pick 107 e and 107 f

Old money is prepared to get burned ...

... or used as toys for the kids

to be continued ...

Inflating your collection : 1 German Empire (Weimar Republic) i

August 1923, a fifth set of notes are issued.
The inflation seems unstoppable, and the notes that were issued in July seem already worthless in August.

workers are getting paid in cash ...

This 5th set starts with a 50,000 and 200,000 RM note in the same style as the 100,000 of set 4.

German Empire, Pick 100

There is no watermark, no serial number.
Two new million Reichsmark notes are emitted too.
The first (Pick 101) comes with a green shade on the right side, and has a serial letter/number at the bottom. The second one (Pick 102) has no shade, but a printed design, and no serial letter or number.
This note is printed on 4 different watermarks : E, L, G and J:

German Empire - Pick 102b (WM L)

Same story with Pick 103 and 104 (2 million Reichsmark). The first note (Pick 103) with a purple shade on the right, with serial letter/number at the bottom.
Pick 104 without the shade, without serial letter/number, and 4 different watermarks (E, L, G or J).

top: Pick 103 - bottom : Pick 104

The 5 million RM note is printed on pink paper, in the same style as the previous notes.
Pick mentiones a serial number/letter followed by a serial number on the right top corner.

catalogue picture Pick 105 German Empire

My notes are different however :

Here we find serial letter/number on the left top corner, and a serial number on the right top corner.
More to this note, is that in the top version, both serial letter/number left as right are red, while in the second note, left is black, and right is red...

Both of my notes come on watermark D.

to be continued ...

Inflating your collection : 1 German Empire (Weimar Republic) h

In July 1923, a fourth set of banknotes is introduced.
All new notes (except the 1 million RM I posted in my previous post) are uniface.
The lowest values  come without serial number or letter. Higher values get a serie letter and the highest denominations get get both.

This 4th series start with a 100,000 RM note. There is a version with watermark E (green paper) and one with watermark J (white paper).

Pick 91b (WM J)

Second note in the set is 500,000 RM.

The design is kept very simple but the red colour of the printing is rather special.
The 1 million RM note, Pick 93 was already in my previous post. Yet another 1 million RM note was issued in this series. I guess Pick 93 was already printed, before the need of more and less complicated banknotes came to the printing of the new note.

Pick 94 - but differnt from the catalogue

My Pick 94 appears to be differnt than the one in the catalogue (maybe I'll need a more specialised issue ?).
In the picture below, two notes, above is a copy from the catalogue (black/white pic), below is my note.

Pick 94 German Empire - two versions?

In the catalogue, there is a serial letter and number, mine does not have this.
The regular serial number, reads from left to right, if you turn the note clockwise.
My note has a larger serial number, with serial letter, but reads from left to right if the note is turned counter-clockwise!
Both notes have the yellowish underprint, but this is not visible on the picture I took from the catalogue.

In July 1923, also a 5 million, a10 million and a 20 million note are printed in the same style.
This 4th set ends with a 50 million RM note.

Pick 98 German Empire

All notes have a ornament / leaves watermark on the right side of the notes.

Pick 94 and 98 watermarks

to be continued ...

Inflating your collection : 1 German Empire (Weimar Rrepublic) g

In June 1923, a 1,000,000 RM note is emitted, similar to the 20,000 RM note from February 1923
( see : Inflating your collection : 1 German Empire (Weimar Republic) e )
It's the last note that has printing on both sides. All other notes, till the end of the hyperinflation are printed unifaced.

20,000 RM and 1,000,000 RM

20,000 and 1,000,000 RM reverse side

5 months after the 20,000 RM, the face value of the note is 50 times higher.

February 1923 - July 1923

In the second half of 1923, there is an inflation of over 20% per day.
Prices are doubled every 3 - 4 days. More and higher denominations were needed, faster than the Reichsbank could bring them into circulation.

to be continued...

Odd stamps : 06 n Stamps on cotton / silk

As this post is my 500th post, I present you a special 'stamp'.

Prince Anton Florian of Liechtenstein

In 1719, Prince Anton Florian (1656-1721) became the first ruling pince of the imperial principality of Liechtenstein. Emperor Charles VI elevated the domains of Schellenberg and Vaduz to the status of imperial immediacy, and thereby ultimately created a sovereign imperial principality of Liechtenstein.

map of Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein is, together with Switzerland, one of the two countries in the world with direct democracy. They both use the Swiss Franc as currency and they even shared the same national anthem, based on "God Save the Queen". The Liechtenstein Anthem is sung as "Oben am jungen Rhein" and the Swiss anthem as "Rufst du mein Fatherland", since 1961 "Schweiserpsalm" is used in Switzerland, to avoid confusion.

In 2019, the principality of Liechtenstein, celebrated the 300th anniversary of the country with a woven stamp in the shape of the princely crown.

woven stamp of Liechtenstein

The stamp was issued in a souvernir folder, with a picture of Prince Anton Florian in the back of the image.

souvenir folder with woven stamp 2019

Inflating your collection : 1 German Empire (Weimar Republic) f

The third emission of 1923 covers the notes emitted between March and June.
It starts with a 5000RM note that was not issued - probably was the value already too low to bring into circulation.
In stead of the 5000 RM note, a 500,000 RM note is put into circulation.
This note exists in 2 versions.

German Reich 88 a (top) - 88 b (bottom)

The first issue (top pic) has two serial numbers on the front, and 2 serial numbers on the reverse side of the note. On the second version, there is only one serial number on the front side, none on the back.

reverse side of German Reich 88a (top) and 88b (bottom)

Besides the diffenences mentionned in the catalogue, we also see that the blue underprint on the second note (88b) is clearly more pronounced than the 88a-version.

A 2,000,000 RM is included in third emission, but dated July 1923 - therefore I skip this note for the moment.

5 million RM (June 1923) - Pick 90

5 million RM (June 1923) - Pick 90 reverse

to be continued ...