Coburg's iron notgeld issues of 1917 emerged from the same nationwide metal shortage that stripped German municipal authorities of copper and nickel stocks — both requisitioned for war production. The city issued these pieces under emergency authority, a pattern repeated across hundreds of German towns that year.
Coburg was still the ducal seat of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a dynasty then sitting on three European thrones — a fact that would unravel entirely within eighteen months of this coin's striking.
Coburg's iron notgeld issues of 1917 emerged from the same nationwide metal shortage that stripped German municipal authorities of copper and nickel stocks — both requisitioned for war production. The city issued these pieces under emergency authority, a pattern repeated across hundreds of German towns that year.
Coburg was still the ducal seat of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a dynasty then sitting on three European thrones — a fact that would unravel entirely within eighteen months of this coin's striking.