1940 1 Markka Finland

The 1940 1 Markka coin was struck as an emergency issue during Finland's Winter War, using salvaged materials to cope with wartime shortages.

That meant recycling whatever base metals were at hand, likely including copper from older stocks, as the usual supplies from abroad had dried up. Production ramped up at the Helsinki Mint to keep the economy afloat while Soviet forces pressed in. We don't know the exact mintage figures; records from that era are spotty, possibly lost in postwar confusion.

The design stayed simple—a profile of the Finnish coat of arms on one side, the denomination on the other—but the edges show signs of hasty work, like irregular milling. I've seen plenty of these over the years, and they're a stark reminder of how coins reflect bigger struggles. Not that they fetch much these days, unless you're into historical oddities.