50 Pfennig - Mülheim an der Ruhr

Mülheim an der Ruhr issued this iron Notgeld piece during the acute coin shortage that followed Germany's defeat in World War I, when the national mint system was overwhelmed and municipalities across the Rhineland and Ruhr were authorized — or simply compelled — to produce their own emergency currency. Iron was the material of necessity: copper and nickel had been requisitioned for the war effort, and supplies remained disrupted well into 1920. The multiple Funck reference numbers indicate at least three distinct die or production variants circulated under this single type designation.