5 Markkaa

Finland's postwar iron coinage was a direct consequence of wartime reparations imposed by the Soviet Union in 1944, which drained the country's industrial metals for nearly a decade. Iron was the only economically viable option for low-denomination striking well into the early 1950s. This particular type was minted specifically to support currency demands during the Helsinki Olympic Games of 1952 — an event Finland had originally been awarded in 1940 before the war intervened.