50 Pfennig - Menden

Menden's 1917 iron Notgeld issue belongs to the first wave of German municipal emergency coinage, triggered by the wartime disappearance of copper and nickel from circulation as the Reich commandeered base metals for munitions production. Cities and towns were left to fend for themselves, and Menden was among hundreds of smaller Westphalian municipalities that struck locally authorized pieces to keep small transactions functioning. Iron was the reluctant substitute — prone to rust, disliked by the public, and hoarded less for value than simply lost to corrosion.