50 Pfennig - Torgau

Torgau issued this iron notgeld piece in 1917, the same year German municipal authorities across the country scrambled to replace hoarded copper and nickel coinage that had effectively vanished from circulation. Iron was the compromise material — abundant, cheap, and deeply unpopular with the public, who found it prone to rust and difficult to distinguish by touch.

Torgau itself had been a Prussian fortress town on the Elbe since the 18th century, better known for the 1760 Battle of Torgau in which Frederick the Great's forces suffered catastrophic losses before ultimately defeating the Austrians — the bloodiest engagement of the Seven Years' War.