Dinnendahl was a major Essen-based machinery and engineering firm operating through the industrial heart of the Ruhr. This zinc pfennig belongs to the notgeld wave that swept German industrial and municipal issuers during and after World War I, when copper and nickel were commandeered for the war effort and small change effectively vanished from circulation. Zinc, despised by mint workers for its brittleness and die-wearing properties, became the default emergency metal for hundreds of such private and municipal issues.
Dinnendahl was a major Essen-based machinery and engineering firm operating through the industrial heart of the Ruhr. This zinc pfennig belongs to the notgeld wave that swept German industrial and municipal issuers during and after World War I, when copper and nickel were commandeered for the war effort and small change effectively vanished from circulation. Zinc, despised by mint workers for its brittleness and die-wearing properties, became the default emergency metal for hundreds of such private and municipal issues.