Schneidemühl issued this iron notgeld piece in 1916 as wartime metal requisitions stripped municipal reserves of copper and nickel. The city, then a significant Prussian railway junction in the Province of Posen, had practical reasons beyond civic pride to keep small change circulating — its workshops and rail yards depended on it. Iron was the compromise, abundant where traditional coinage metals were not.
Posen itself was absorbed into the new Polish state after 1918, and Schneidemühl became Piła. Most of these emergency issues saw hard use and survived poorly.
Schneidemühl issued this iron notgeld piece in 1916 as wartime metal requisitions stripped municipal reserves of copper and nickel. The city, then a significant Prussian railway junction in the Province of Posen, had practical reasons beyond civic pride to keep small change circulating — its workshops and rail yards depended on it. Iron was the compromise, abundant where traditional coinage metals were not.
Posen itself was absorbed into the new Polish state after 1918, and Schneidemühl became Piła. Most of these emergency issues saw hard use and survived poorly.