500 Mark - Westfalen Freiherr vom Stein

Issued by the Province of Westphalia during the early stages of Germany's catastrophic inflation spiral, this piece belongs to the Notgeld emergency currency wave that saw hundreds of German municipalities and regional bodies striking their own coinage between 1918 and 1923 as the Reichsmark collapsed. Westphalia invoked Freiherr vom Stein — the Prussian reformer who dismantled serfdom and reorganized the Prussian state after Napoleonic defeat — as a figure of regional pride and institutional resilience at a moment when German civic identity was under serious strain.

Tombac, a brass alloy with high copper content, was the material of pragmatic necessity rather than preference. By late 1922, a 500 Mark denomination was already losing purchasing power faster than the coins could reach circulation.