Frankfurt's municipal coinage authority issued zinc pfennigs during the mid-nineteenth century as emergency small change, a practical response to chronic shortages of low-denomination copper across the German states. The city retained its status as a Free City with independent minting rights until Prussian annexation in 1866 effectively ended Frankfurt's civic monetary autonomy — pieces struck before that date are among the last expressions of the city's centuries-old right to coin.
Frankfurt's municipal coinage authority issued zinc pfennigs during the mid-nineteenth century as emergency small change, a practical response to chronic shortages of low-denomination copper across the German states. The city retained its status as a Free City with independent minting rights until Prussian annexation in 1866 effectively ended Frankfurt's civic monetary autonomy — pieces struck before that date are among the last expressions of the city's centuries-old right to coin.