Austrian 10 Groschen 1946

This 1946 10 Groschen coin was struck from aluminum, a makeshift material sourced from wartime scraps to keep the economy circulating amid shortages.

That decision reflected Austria's hasty recovery efforts after 1945, when the country needed coins for everyday transactions but lacked traditional metals. The obverse shows the federal shield, a symbol of the new republic, while the reverse lists the denomination in a no-nonsense sans-serif font. Production ran from 1946 to 1952, though exact figures for the first year are murky—records from the Vienna mint were spotty in those chaotic times.

Weighing just 1.58 grams, it handled the wear of market stalls and tram fares without much fuss. A colleague once quipped it's the coin equivalent of a wartime ration: functional, if not flashy.