Roth bei Nürnberg issued this iron pfennig in 1918 as Kriegsgeld — emergency coinage produced across hundreds of German municipalities when wartime metal requisitions stripped the Reichsbank of copper and nickel reserves. By that point in the war, civilian coin production had effectively collapsed at the national level, forcing local authorities to contract with private mints and printworks for stopgap issues. Iron was itself a compromise material; zinc and pressed cardboard were being used elsewhere simultaneously.
Roth bei Nürnberg issued this iron pfennig in 1918 as Kriegsgeld — emergency coinage produced across hundreds of German municipalities when wartime metal requisitions stripped the Reichsbank of copper and nickel reserves. By that point in the war, civilian coin production had effectively collapsed at the national level, forcing local authorities to contract with private mints and printworks for stopgap issues. Iron was itself a compromise material; zinc and pressed cardboard were being used elsewhere simultaneously.