Saalfeld in East Prussia was a small market town of no particular monetary significance until the First World War's demands on copper and nickel forced German municipal authorities to fill the coinage vacuum themselves. The 1918 iron Notgeld issues from communities like Saalfeld represent the administrative scramble of that final war year, when the Reichsbank could not guarantee adequate small change and local councils were effectively left to improvise. Iron was the fallback — cheap, available, and deeply unpopular with the public, who correctly anticipated it would rust in pocket.
Saalfeld in East Prussia was a small market town of no particular monetary significance until the First World War's demands on copper and nickel forced German municipal authorities to fill the coinage vacuum themselves. The 1918 iron Notgeld issues from communities like Saalfeld represent the administrative scramble of that final war year, when the Reichsbank could not guarantee adequate small change and local councils were effectively left to improvise. Iron was the fallback — cheap, available, and deeply unpopular with the public, who correctly anticipated it would rust in pocket.