Issued by Wilhelm Rasche, a merchant or tradesman operating in Biebrich am Rhein, this is a piece of German notgeld — emergency token coinage produced by private businesses and municipalities during the acute metal shortages of World War I. Iron replaced brass and nickel as those metals were requisitioned for the war effort, leaving everyday small-change transactions dependent on whatever local issuers could produce. Biebrich, then an independent Rhine town before its absorption into Wiesbaden in 1926, generated a number of such private issues.
Issued by Wilhelm Rasche, a merchant or tradesman operating in Biebrich am Rhein, this is a piece of German notgeld — emergency token coinage produced by private businesses and municipalities during the acute metal shortages of World War I. Iron replaced brass and nickel as those metals were requisitioned for the war effort, leaving everyday small-change transactions dependent on whatever local issuers could produce. Biebrich, then an independent Rhine town before its absorption into Wiesbaden in 1926, generated a number of such private issues.