Freudenstadt's 1920 notgeld coinage was a direct product of the postwar metal shortage and the collapse of small-change supply that paralyzed everyday commerce across Württemberg. Municipal authorities were left to solve the problem themselves, and hundreds of German towns did exactly that — issuing iron, zinc, and porcelain pieces under emergency powers while Berlin remained unable to meet demand. Iron was the expedient of necessity; copper and nickel had been consumed by the war.
Freudenstadt's 1920 notgeld coinage was a direct product of the postwar metal shortage and the collapse of small-change supply that paralyzed everyday commerce across Württemberg. Municipal authorities were left to solve the problem themselves, and hundreds of German towns did exactly that — issuing iron, zinc, and porcelain pieces under emergency powers while Berlin remained unable to meet demand. Iron was the expedient of necessity; copper and nickel had been consumed by the war.