5 Pfennig - Hohenwestedt

Hohenwestedt is a small market town in Schleswig-Holstein, and this iron piece is a product of the First World War's systematic destruction of Germany's small-coin supply. As silver and copper were diverted to the war economy, thousands of German municipalities, cooperatives, and private creditors issued their own emergency tokens — Notgeld — to keep local commerce functional. The Creditverein, a local credit cooperative, had both the institutional standing and the practical need to do so. Iron was the material of last resort.