10 Pfennig - Kolberg

Kolberg issued this iron notgeld piece in 1918 as the Imperial German military's insatiable appetite for copper and nickel left municipal authorities scrambling to keep small change in circulation. Iron was the compromise material of desperation — cheap, abundant, and deeply unpopular with the public, who found it prone to rust in pocket and purse. The city of Kolberg, then a fortified Baltic resort and garrison town in Pomerania, was one of hundreds of German municipalities forced into emergency coinage that year.

Funck 254.1 distinguishes this from later Kolberg issues that appeared in 1921 during the inflation wave.