5 Markkaa

Finland's postwar brass coinage was a direct consequence of wartime metal requisitioning and the punishing reparations imposed by the 1944 Moscow Armistice, which obligated Finland to deliver substantial industrial output to the Soviet Union. Copper and nickel were effectively unavailable for domestic coin production, pushing the mint toward brass as a practical substitute. The 1946 start date is not coincidental — it marks the first full production year after the armistice terms were locked in.

The series ran through 1952, the year Helsinki hosted the Olympic Games, after which currency reforms and inflation rendered the 5 markka denomination essentially worthless in circulation.