In October 1914, with the approval of the high territorial royal government, the government’s commissioner for the organization of the wartime volunteer field nurse service launched a campaign to collect “donations in the form of gold objects and cash money and other valuables” in the territory of the Kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia under the slogan “Gold for Iron”.
After an appraisal and issuance of a written confirmation, donors were in return given an iron ring indicating the value of the donation (the minimum value of a donation was 5 crowns). The purpose of this civic humanitarian campaign was to collect money for the families of slain soldiers “who were originally from these kingdoms and who left their families without sufficient means”. The hub for the organization of this collection drive was in Zagreb, and collections were gathered in the premises of the First Croatian Savings Bank in Zagreb (Ilica street no. 5), in its branch offices or by authorized individuals in smaller towns and cities.
The rings bore the inscription and the year of the collective drive, i.e., “I Gave Gold for Iron, 1914” and they were protected by the seal of the Commission for Organization of the Wartime Hospital Service in Zagreb.