Adolf Bleichert & Co. was the dominant manufacturer of aerial ropeways and wire cable systems in late 19th-century Germany, their Leipzig-Gohlis works exporting equipment across four continents. Factory tokens of this type functioned as internal small change — canteen currency, essentially — redeemable only within the firm's own facilities. Zinc was the wartime and austerity-period default for such issues, cheap and locally sourced when copper was reserved for industrial contracts the company itself was likely fulfilling.
Adolf Bleichert & Co. was the dominant manufacturer of aerial ropeways and wire cable systems in late 19th-century Germany, their Leipzig-Gohlis works exporting equipment across four continents. Factory tokens of this type functioned as internal small change — canteen currency, essentially — redeemable only within the firm's own facilities. Zinc was the wartime and austerity-period default for such issues, cheap and locally sourced when copper was reserved for industrial contracts the company itself was likely fulfilling.