By late 1923, Germany's hyperinflation had grown so extreme that regional governments and private entities were authorized to issue their own emergency currency — Notgeld — simply to keep commerce functioning. Westphalia's provincial administration issued this piece under the name of Freiherr vom Stein, the Prussian reformer who had reorganized German civic administration a century earlier, lending a veneer of institutional legitimacy to what was essentially improvised money.
Tombac — a brass alloy — was chosen because aluminum and zinc supplies were already strained by smaller-denomination emergency issues. At 60 mm, this is among the largest of the inflation-era metal Notgeld pieces, struck when the Reichsmark had not yet replaced the collapsing Papiermark in November 1923.
By late 1923, Germany's hyperinflation had grown so extreme that regional governments and private entities were authorized to issue their own emergency currency — Notgeld — simply to keep commerce functioning. Westphalia's provincial administration issued this piece under the name of Freiherr vom Stein, the Prussian reformer who had reorganized German civic administration a century earlier, lending a veneer of institutional legitimacy to what was essentially improvised money.
Tombac — a brass alloy — was chosen because aluminum and zinc supplies were already strained by smaller-denomination emergency issues. At 60 mm, this is among the largest of the inflation-era metal Notgeld pieces, struck when the Reichsmark had not yet replaced the collapsing Papiermark in November 1923.