OELDE 1921 "The Flatulent Coppersmith" 5 Mark Complete Fart Humor Notgeld

Description: OELDE 1921 "The Flatulent Coppersmith" 5 Mark Complete Fart Humor Notgeld The city of Oelde briefly became world-famous in 1908 because of the incident depicted on this note. It seems a local coppersmith was walking after drinking at the pub and had eaten a bean dish that night, when, encouraged by his drinking companions, he began to disturb his fellow residents of Oelde with his (very) loud public flatulence. A local policeman heard the commotion and came and told him to keep it down, whereupon he protested that it was only "Oelder Wind" (the name of the poem on this note) and quite natural, and redoubled his efforts. Surely enough, in a few days he received a citation with a fine of 5 Marks for disturbing the peace with his loud "flatulence" (Blähungen). The local newspapers, and soon the international press, made tremendous hay of the incident, as it was the first time in recorded history that someone had been fined for flatulence. The coppersmith fought the citation, and his defense once again made the rounds in the world press, for his excuse was "negligence," or Fahrlässigkeit, which is a clever pun in German. The word for negligence is derived from the same verbs as "to let one go" (einen fahren lassen), a euphemism for flatulence. The court upheld the 5 Mark fine, and the city of Oelde commemorated the incident with this 5 Mark Notgeld note. There is today a bronze statue of the same scene in downtown Oelde. I've translated the poem as best I could, taking a few liberties to preserve the rhyme and meter: The coppersmith, whom one sees here,One evening farted very loud.A lone policemen fined him dearDisturbed the peace, he’d drawn a crowd. And then the smith’s appeal did chime:Why, doing such, it was no crime.And it was only Oelder Wind,That on those empty streets had dinned. “The Bell*” announced the incident,Then all across the world it went.This tune proclaims for all to know,The coppersmith who let one go. * "The Bell" (Die Glocke) was the name of the local newspaper that first reported the sensational story. All notes are guaranteed genuine.You will receive exactly the note(s) in the photos.Orders are shipped well-protected, usually within 1 business day.FREE US SHIPPING is included for all items. INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING: $15 for unlimited combined items (except larger/heavier items where noted). CONSIGNMENTS ACCEPTED! Contact us for a free estimate. Large collections and intact estates welcome. Wir sprechen gerne Deutsch!

Price: 5.21 USD

Location: Elkader, Iowa

End Time: 2024-12-31T17:54:58.000Z

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