Amberg's zinc Notgeld emerged from the same wartime metal shortage that stripped German circulation of its copper and nickel — both diverted to shell casings and military hardware after 1915. Municipalities were left to improvise, and hundreds of German cities issued their own emergency coinage under Imperial authorization. Zinc was the compromise material: abundant enough to be practical, durable enough to survive handling, and sufficiently unappealing to hoarders that it actually circulated.
The Funck reference places this among the earliest documented municipal zinc issues, 1917 being the peak year for such local authorizations before the inflation crisis of the early 1920s rendered the entire Notgeld system obsolete.
Amberg's zinc Notgeld emerged from the same wartime metal shortage that stripped German circulation of its copper and nickel — both diverted to shell casings and military hardware after 1915. Municipalities were left to improvise, and hundreds of German cities issued their own emergency coinage under Imperial authorization. Zinc was the compromise material: abundant enough to be practical, durable enough to survive handling, and sufficiently unappealing to hoarders that it actually circulated.
The Funck reference places this among the earliest documented municipal zinc issues, 1917 being the peak year for such local authorizations before the inflation crisis of the early 1920s rendered the entire Notgeld system obsolete.