Riesenburg — now Prabuty, Poland — issued this notgeld piece in 1917 as the wartime metal shortage bit deep enough that even iron, normally too base for coinage, became the default option for municipal emergency issues. The German imperial government had been pulling copper and nickel from circulation since 1915, leaving smaller Prussian towns to fend for themselves through locally authorized scrip.
The Funck reference places this among the better-documented West Prussian iron issues, though survival rates for iron notgeld are notoriously uneven — the metal rusts, and hoarded examples often corrode beyond attribution.
Riesenburg — now Prabuty, Poland — issued this notgeld piece in 1917 as the wartime metal shortage bit deep enough that even iron, normally too base for coinage, became the default option for municipal emergency issues. The German imperial government had been pulling copper and nickel from circulation since 1915, leaving smaller Prussian towns to fend for themselves through locally authorized scrip.
The Funck reference places this among the better-documented West Prussian iron issues, though survival rates for iron notgeld are notoriously uneven — the metal rusts, and hoarded examples often corrode beyond attribution.