By 1914, the German monetary administration was already exploring nickel as a replacement for the copper pfennig coinage, anticipating the material shortages that the coming war would make catastrophic. This piece is a pattern — never adopted — representing one branch of that preparatory work. Copper pfennig production continued into the war years before aluminum and zinc eventually took over. The nickel small-shield type went nowhere, leaving pattern survivors as the only physical evidence that the denomination was seriously reconsidered in the final months before August 1914.
By 1914, the German monetary administration was already exploring nickel as a replacement for the copper pfennig coinage, anticipating the material shortages that the coming war would make catastrophic. This piece is a pattern — never adopted — representing one branch of that preparatory work. Copper pfennig production continued into the war years before aluminum and zinc eventually took over. The nickel small-shield type went nowhere, leaving pattern survivors as the only physical evidence that the denomination was seriously reconsidered in the final months before August 1914.