5 Pfennig - Unna

Unna's 1917 iron notgeld issue belongs to the first wave of German municipal emergency coinage, forced into existence when wartime metal requisitions stripped copper and nickel from civilian circulation entirely. The Reich had authorized municipalities to produce their own small-denomination substitutes, and hundreds of towns — Unna among them — scrambled to contract local or regional manufacturers. Iron was the only practical option by mid-war, already corroding in pockets and purses within months of issue.