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1 Pfennig - Gleiwitz Drahtwerke
| Issuer | Drahtwerke Gleiwitz (Wire Works Gleiwitz, Germany) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Emergency coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | The reverse is essentially identical in layout to the obverse, featuring an outer ring of raised beads forming the rim border, within which the circular legend * DRAHTWERKE GLEIWITZ * runs around the upper arc. A concentric inner beaded circle encloses the central field, where the large raised numeral '1' is prominently displayed. The legend * WERTMARKE * appears in the lower arc between the two beaded rings, flanked by small decorative rosette stops. The design mirrors the obverse, reflecting the straightforward functional character of this industrial emergency token. |
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| Additional information |
Gleiwitz (now Gliwice, Poland) was a major industrial center in Upper Silesia, and the Drahtwerke — a wire manufacturing operation — issued notgeld tokens like this one during the acute small-change shortages that plagued German industry in the early 1920s. Factory-issued pfennig tokens were a practical solution: workers received them as part of wage disbursements and spent them at company facilities, keeping currency circulating within a closed economic loop. The region's contested status following the 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite added a layer of instability to ordinary commerce that made private token issues all the more common.