Weißenfels issued this iron notgeld piece in 1918 as the German war economy had stripped copper and zinc from municipal circulation entirely. The city sits on the Saale in Saxony-Anhalt — an industrial and shoe-manufacturing center that, like hundreds of German towns that year, was forced to produce its own emergency coinage simply to make change for daily commerce. Iron was the last resort, difficult to strike cleanly and prone to rust, which explains why uncorroded survivors are harder to find than the issue numbers might suggest.
Weißenfels issued this iron notgeld piece in 1918 as the German war economy had stripped copper and zinc from municipal circulation entirely. The city sits on the Saale in Saxony-Anhalt — an industrial and shoe-manufacturing center that, like hundreds of German towns that year, was forced to produce its own emergency coinage simply to make change for daily commerce. Iron was the last resort, difficult to strike cleanly and prone to rust, which explains why uncorroded survivors are harder to find than the issue numbers might suggest.