Von Heyden's Radebeul factory was one of Germany's earliest large-scale pharmaceutical chemical manufacturers, producing aspirin intermediates and synthetic dyes during a period when Weimar-era small change was functionally unavailable. This iron notgeld piece was issued as emergency factory scrip to keep internal wage transactions moving when the Reichsbank could not supply sufficient coin.
Iron was the unsentimental choice — zinc and aluminium had competing industrial claims, and the material telegraphs exactly how provisional this piece was meant to be.
Von Heyden's Radebeul factory was one of Germany's earliest large-scale pharmaceutical chemical manufacturers, producing aspirin intermediates and synthetic dyes during a period when Weimar-era small change was functionally unavailable. This iron notgeld piece was issued as emergency factory scrip to keep internal wage transactions moving when the Reichsbank could not supply sufficient coin.
Iron was the unsentimental choice — zinc and aluminium had competing industrial claims, and the material telegraphs exactly how provisional this piece was meant to be.