1 Pfennig - Wilhelm II type 2 - small shield - Pattern

Germany's wartime zinc coinage experiments of 1916 reflect the acute material shortages imposed by the Allied naval blockade, which had effectively cut off copper and nickel imports. This piece — catalogued as a pattern rather than a circulation strike — was part of the broader emergency metals program that would eventually produce the widely-issued zinc and iron pfennig types of 1915–1918. The Schaaf pattern reference series documents dozens of die and material trials from this period, most produced in very small numbers at the Berlin mint and never formally approved for release.