50 Pfennig - Hengersberg Müller-Salegg

Hengersberg is a small market town in Lower Bavaria, and this iron token belongs to the Notgeld issues that flooded Germany during and immediately after World War I, when chronic metal shortages and the hoarding of official coinage left municipalities, businesses, and private firms to plug the gap themselves. Müller-Salegg — almost certainly a local commercial or milling operation — issued these pieces to keep small transactions moving when the Reichsbank simply could not supply enough fractional coinage.

Iron was the compromise material of necessity, not preference. Corrosion makes survivors in decent condition scarcer than the original mintage figures would suggest.