25 Pfennig - Rothenburg ob der Tauber Herterich Brunnen

Rothenburg ob der Tauber was among hundreds of German municipalities forced to issue emergency coinage — Notgeld — as the postwar metal shortage and inflationary spiral made Reichsbank-issued small change functionally unavailable. Iron was the material of necessity, not preference; copper and nickel had been consumed by the war effort years earlier. The Herterich Brunnen, a Renaissance fountain in the market square, was a predictable choice for a city that had been aggressively marketing its medieval streetscape to tourists since the late 19th century.