This iron 10 pfennig coin was issued in 1919 by the City of Bingen am Rhein and was meant to be used as small change. On the obverse is the name of the town and the city coat of arms (stadtwappen). The coat of arms depicts St. Martin, the patron saint of the town, as a knight cutting his cloak for a beggar. In the top left is the arms of the State of Mainz which is a wheel within a shield. On the reverse is the word NOTGELD, the denomination of 10 pfennig between two stars and the date 1919.

Bingen am Rhein is a town of about 25.600 people located in the Mainz-Bingen district of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. Because of its location on the Rhine that is conducive to transportation, there has been a settlement in this location from very early on. Originally a Celtic settlement, it was taken by Roman forces and became frontier town in the early first century AD. It was the starting point for the Via Ausonia, a Roman military road that linked the town with Trier. Some time between 335 and 360 a Christian community was founded here by the presbyter Aetherius of Bingen whose grave stone has been preserved and is displayed in Saint Martin's Basilica.

The town was then taken by the Franks after the fall of the Limes Germnaicus and became a private royal estate which passed to the Archbishop of Willigis of Mainz through the Donation of Verona by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II the Red. The town attempted many times to become a free city which ultimately led to conflict between the Archbishop and the the Emperor leading to the virtual destruction of the town and failure to gain independence. By the 13th century Bingen was a member of the Rhenish League which brought greater prosperity but this union did not last long. Also in the 13th century Klopp Castle was built as well as the Ehrenfels Castle and the Mouse Tower on the opposite side of the Rhine which enabled the Archbishop to better extract tolls on river trade. In 1525 Bingen joined the German Peasant's War, a widespread popular revolt that failed because of strong opposition from the aristocracy who slaughtered up to 100,000 peasants and farmers. By 1438 the town was sold to the Cathedral Chapter of Mainz and it would stay under the administration of this group until the late 18th century. In 1792 French Revolutionary troops occupied the left bank of the Rhine and Bingen fell under control of the French Republic and the French Empire as part of the department of Mont-Tonnerre until 1812.

Pictured above is a map of Bingen from 1577.

After the Congress of Vienna in 1816, a meeting of European powers with the objective of providing a long-term peace plan after the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, Bingen became a part of the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Damstadt with the outlying center of Bingerbruck going to the Rhine Provence of Prussia. Now Bingen was a border town until 1871 and the formation of the German Empire.

There had been a small Jewish community in the town as early as the mid-12th century before they were driven out some time in 1198 or 1199. By the 13th century a small Jewish community, many of whom were money lenders, had again been established in the town when it was ruled by the archbishop of Mainz. In 1405 the archbishop declared a moratorium on one-fifth of all debts owed to the Jews by the Christians and began demanding payments from the Jewish community. By 1507 the Jews were again expelled from the town and did not return until the second half of the 16th century. By 1933 there were about 465 Jews living in Bingen but by 1939 the population had shrunk to 222 due to the rise of the Nazi Party. By 1942 the remaining population of about 169 were were deported and only 4 survived. The synagogue in Bingen was demolished in 1945 and to date a Jewish community has not been reestablished there. After World War II the town was part of the newly established state of the Rhineland-Palatinate which was formed in part from the French Zone of Occupation (1945-1949). The current district of Mainz-Bingen was formed when the district of Mainz was merged with the district of Bingen in 1969 and Bingen am Rhein is now a Verband (Association)-Free Town.

Today Bingen am Rhein is best known for it's wine growing. The town hosts an 11 day wine makers' festival called Winzerfest and the Nacht der Verfuhrung or the Night of Seducation wine festival in the vines. Three wine growing areas (Rheinhessen, Mittelrhein and Nahe) meet in the town. The town used to have a larger business presence until the cargo harbor was abandoned and the winter harbor was turned into a marina causing many of the industries to leave town over the years. However there is a significant service industry that can be found at several industrial and commercial parks. Tourism is a major concern as Bingen is surrounded by the natural beauty of the Palatinate and sits on the Rhine which makes it a regular stop on boat tours.