25 Pfennig - Laufen

Issued in 1918 by the District of Laufen in Upper Bavaria, this iron notgeld piece belongs to the desperate final year of the First World War, when the German imperial government had stripped civilian circulation of all copper, nickel, and brass for munitions production. Hundreds of municipalities were left to provision their own small change. Iron was the compromise — cheap, available, and thoroughly unloved by the public, who hoarded anything better.

Laufen's issue is catalogued under Funck 277.6, placing it among the more obscure Bavarian district emissions. Iron notgeld of this period corrodes aggressively; uncorroded survivors are the exception.