10 Pfennig - Deutsch-Eylau

Deutsch-Eylau — now Iława in northern Poland — issued this notgeld piece in 1918 as the German imperial supply chain buckled under wartime metal requisitioning. By that point, copper and nickel had long been redirected to munitions production, forcing municipal authorities across Prussia to authorize their own iron substitutes. The Magistrat had no printing press mandate; this was a local administrative decision made out of sheer transactional necessity.

Iron coinage from this period corrodes readily, and survivors in undamaged condition are genuinely scarce despite the modest face value suggesting heavy everyday use.