Günzburg's iron notgeld issues of 1917 belong to the first wave of German municipal emergency coinage, forced into existence when wartime metal requisitions stripped copper and nickel from civilian circulation. Iron was the unsentimental replacement — cheap, abundant, and corroding reliably in pocket moisture, which is why uncorroded survivors command attention.
Günzburg's iron notgeld issues of 1917 belong to the first wave of German municipal emergency coinage, forced into existence when wartime metal requisitions stripped copper and nickel from civilian circulation. Iron was the unsentimental replacement — cheap, abundant, and corroding reliably in pocket moisture, which is why uncorroded survivors command attention.