Lynen & Co. was a major coal mining and metallurgical operation based in Eschweiler, in the Aachen coalfield region. German industrial firms issued their own low-denomination notgeld coinage during and after World War I as official small change effectively vanished from circulation — hoarded, melted, or simply never produced in sufficient quantity against wartime demand. Zinc was the material of necessity, copper and nickel having been requisitioned for the war effort well before the armistice.
Lynen & Co. was a major coal mining and metallurgical operation based in Eschweiler, in the Aachen coalfield region. German industrial firms issued their own low-denomination notgeld coinage during and after World War I as official small change effectively vanished from circulation — hoarded, melted, or simply never produced in sufficient quantity against wartime demand. Zinc was the material of necessity, copper and nickel having been requisitioned for the war effort well before the armistice.