Fritz Burger was a merchant in Auerbach in der Oberpfalz who issued this zinc notgeld token during the acute small-change shortage that gripped Germany from around 1916 onward, as wartime metal requisitioning stripped copper and nickel from circulation. Municipal and private issuers across Bavaria filled the gap with their own emergency pieces, zinc being the least strategically valuable metal still available for such purposes.
The Menzel reference numbers indicate two catalogued varieties for this type — likely differing in die detail or edge treatment.
Fritz Burger was a merchant in Auerbach in der Oberpfalz who issued this zinc notgeld token during the acute small-change shortage that gripped Germany from around 1916 onward, as wartime metal requisitioning stripped copper and nickel from circulation. Municipal and private issuers across Bavaria filled the gap with their own emergency pieces, zinc being the least strategically valuable metal still available for such purposes.
The Menzel reference numbers indicate two catalogued varieties for this type — likely differing in die detail or edge treatment.