Münsterberg — now Ziębice in southwestern Poland — issued this iron notgeld piece in 1918 as the German war economy stripped copper and zinc from civilian circulation for shell casings and military hardware. The Stadtsparkasse, a municipal savings institution rather than a proper issuing bank, stepped in to plug the gap in small-change liquidity, a role hundreds of similar local bodies assumed across Germany and Austria-Hungary in the final war years.
Iron was an impractical substitute — it corroded quickly and jammed coin-operated meters and vending machines — but it was all that remained.
Münsterberg — now Ziębice in southwestern Poland — issued this iron notgeld piece in 1918 as the German war economy stripped copper and zinc from civilian circulation for shell casings and military hardware. The Stadtsparkasse, a municipal savings institution rather than a proper issuing bank, stepped in to plug the gap in small-change liquidity, a role hundreds of similar local bodies assumed across Germany and Austria-Hungary in the final war years.
Iron was an impractical substitute — it corroded quickly and jammed coin-operated meters and vending machines — but it was all that remained.