Wohlau — now Wołów in Lower Silesia — issued this notgeld piece in 1918 as the German iron coinage supply collapsed under wartime metal requisitioning. Municipal savings banks like the Stadtsparkasse were among the more unusual issuing bodies; most notgeld came from city councils or commercial firms, making Sparkasse-issued pieces a distinct administrative curiosity. Iron was the material of last resort by this stage, with copper and nickel long diverted to shell casings and military hardware.
The Funck 608.1A designation places this among the catalogued Schlesische notgeld, a series now complicated by the postwar transfer of the region to Poland.
Wohlau — now Wołów in Lower Silesia — issued this notgeld piece in 1918 as the German iron coinage supply collapsed under wartime metal requisitioning. Municipal savings banks like the Stadtsparkasse were among the more unusual issuing bodies; most notgeld came from city councils or commercial firms, making Sparkasse-issued pieces a distinct administrative curiosity. Iron was the material of last resort by this stage, with copper and nickel long diverted to shell casings and military hardware.
The Funck 608.1A designation places this among the catalogued Schlesische notgeld, a series now complicated by the postwar transfer of the region to Poland.