50 Groszy Iron, Trial Strike 50 far from leaves eagle 2nd type, German Occupation WWII

German occupation monetary planning for Poland began before the invasion. This iron trial strike predates the September 1939 campaign, reflecting Berlin's administrative preparations for a puppet currency infrastructure in anticipated occupied territory. The "2nd type" eagle designation distinguishes this from earlier die submissions — multiple eagle punches were evaluated before occupation coinage specifications were finalized. Iron was the deliberate material choice: zinc and iron replaced nonferrous metals across German-controlled minting programs as rearmament consumed copper and nickel reserves. Few trial pieces from this preparatory phase survived outside institutional collections.