2 Pfennig - Rostock Gustav Zeeck

Gustav Zeeck operated as a merchant in Rostock, and this iron piece belongs to the wave of privately issued German notgeld tokens that flooded local commerce during and immediately after the First World War, when chronic metal shortages made official small-denomination coinage effectively disappear from circulation. Municipal and commercial issuers filled the gap themselves, with wildly inconsistent quality and longevity.

Iron was the pragmatic fallback once copper and zinc were requisitioned for the war effort.