1 Mark - Wilhelm II type 2 - small shield - Pattern

Germany's wartime metal shortages prompted extensive experimentation with substitute coinage compositions from 1915 onward, as silver was redirected to industrial and military procurement. This brass pattern was part of that broader testing program — the small-shield type was already an established design, making it a convenient host for trials with non-silver alloys. Brass patterns of this specific type rarely survived official channels; most were melted or retained in mint archives rather than distributed.