How Till Owlglass with Notgeld Did Mischief Make
It is amazing what assorted banknote dealers have managed to foist upon an innocent Kiwi collector-abroad. Twenty years ago, almost to the day, one lined me up in his sights at an IBNS bourse in London. He had me in skinned and in the bag before I could feel the pain in my wallet. And it is not as if I even collect notgeld!
Today I take comfort from the notion that it was clearly Till Eulenspiegel’s doing. Somewhere in a distant incarnation I believe I stumbled over this degenerate European folk hero whose sociopathic antics make Bart Simpson resemble a born-again angel. He was certainly ready and waiting for me when I wandered jet-lagged into that fateful London bourse where that perceptive dealer laid out an almost complete set of Eulenspiegel notgeld from Kneitlingen. The colorful designs traced the birth, life and death of this ultimate ne’er-do-well. I hesitated. I dithered. I bought the lot.
Myth or man
Till Eulenspiegel, or Tyll Ulenspiegel, or a variety of other spellings, was/is a folk hero who lived in and around the Lower Saxony area of Germany in the 14 century, 16 century, or a variety of other dates.
