Allstedt is best known as the pulpit from which Thomas Müntzer preached his incendiary "Sermon to the Princes" in 1524, but this iron notgeld piece belongs to a far quieter crisis — the municipal small-change shortage that gripped German towns during the First World War. Iron was an awkward substitute, prone to corrosion, and most surviving examples from Allstedt show surface rust consistent with poor storage conditions in circulation. The Funck and Menzel references both distinguish a second variety (the .2 suffix), suggesting at least one die or format revision during the issue's run.
Allstedt is best known as the pulpit from which Thomas Müntzer preached his incendiary "Sermon to the Princes" in 1524, but this iron notgeld piece belongs to a far quieter crisis — the municipal small-change shortage that gripped German towns during the First World War. Iron was an awkward substitute, prone to corrosion, and most surviving examples from Allstedt show surface rust consistent with poor storage conditions in circulation. The Funck and Menzel references both distinguish a second variety (the .2 suffix), suggesting at least one die or format revision during the issue's run.