10 Pfennig - Bad Blankenburg

Bad Blankenburg issued this iron notgeld piece during the acute metal shortages of World War I, when municipalities across Germany were authorized to produce emergency coinage after copper and nickel were requisitioned for the war effort. The shift to iron was pragmatic and ugly — the metal corrodes readily, which is precisely why survivors in genuinely uncirculated condition are harder to find than mintage figures alone would suggest.