50 Pfennig - Emmerich

Emmerich, a Rhine crossing town in the western Rhineland, issued notgeld coinage in 1920 as the postwar coin shortage — driven by metal hoarding and the collapse of the imperial currency system — left municipal governments scrambling to fill the gap left by Berlin. Iron was the material of necessity, not choice; copper and nickel were still being rationed under Allied supervision following the armistice terms.