German Empire, Weimar Republic, City of Eldagsen, Emergency Issue 25 Pfennig 1921

During the First World War (1914-1918), Germany suffered from a serious shortage of coins. Therefore cities, communities and companies started to give out their own currencies. In the first years of war, more than 450 organizations issued money. Actually these issues were illegal; the government tolerated them enforcedly, however, from lack of better solutions. The community of Eldagsen in Lower Saxony issued the emergency bill shown here. It was worth 25 pfennig; the inscription reads as follows: "With Gold and silver we cannot longer pay. Therefore let's do like everybody else – let's use scrap."