10 Pfennig - Melsungen

Melsungen, a small market town in Hesse-Nassau, issued this iron notgeld piece in 1918 as the German war economy had stripped copper and zinc from civilian minting entirely. Municipal authorities across the German states were left to source whatever metal remained locally — iron was often the only practical option, and it corroded readily, which explains why crisp survivors are less common than the original mintages suggest.