Kreis Saarburg issued this zinc Pfennig as emergency coinage — Notgeld — during the material shortages of World War I, when copper and other base metals were commandeered for military use. The German government's 1916 prohibition on copper coinage pushed municipal and district authorities across the Reich to produce their own small-denomination substitutes, and rural administrative districts like Saarburg were among the last-tier issuers, producing pieces in quantities rarely documented with any precision.
The two Menzel reference numbers suggest at least one catalogued die or edge variety exists between specimens.
Kreis Saarburg issued this zinc Pfennig as emergency coinage — Notgeld — during the material shortages of World War I, when copper and other base metals were commandeered for military use. The German government's 1916 prohibition on copper coinage pushed municipal and district authorities across the Reich to produce their own small-denomination substitutes, and rural administrative districts like Saarburg were among the last-tier issuers, producing pieces in quantities rarely documented with any precision.
The two Menzel reference numbers suggest at least one catalogued die or edge variety exists between specimens.