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5 Pfennig - Pirmasens
| Issuer | Pirmasens, City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 2.8 g |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A beaded border encircles the entire reverse. The large numeral '5', representing the denomination of five Pfennig, dominates the central field in bold raised relief. The circular legend 'KLEINGELDERSATZMARKE' (small change substitute token) runs along the upper periphery, identifying this piece as an emergency small-change token issued during the post-World War I currency shortage. A small bullet ornament appears at the base of the legend. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Pirmasens issued notgeld in 1919 as the postwar German economy buckled under the strain of defeat, demobilization, and the near-total disappearance of small-denomination metal coinage from circulation. The city had been a center of the German shoe manufacturing industry for over a century, and its local economy — dependent on factory wages paid in small change — made the absence of pfennig coinage an immediate practical crisis rather than an abstract monetary problem.
Iron was the predictable choice: copper and nickel remained strategically restricted well into the postwar period under Allied supervision.