Barmen issued this zinc notgeld piece in 1917 as the Imperial German war economy stripped copper and nickel from civilian coinage production almost entirely. The city — an industrial textile hub in the Wupper valley — was among hundreds of municipalities forced to commission their own emergency currency when the Reichsbank could no longer supply adequate small change. Zinc was the compromise material: abundant, cheap, and deeply unpopular with the public, who found it corroded quickly in circulation.
Barmen itself ceased to exist as an independent city in 1929, absorbed into the newly created Wuppertal.
Barmen issued this zinc notgeld piece in 1917 as the Imperial German war economy stripped copper and nickel from civilian coinage production almost entirely. The city — an industrial textile hub in the Wupper valley — was among hundreds of municipalities forced to commission their own emergency currency when the Reichsbank could no longer supply adequate small change. Zinc was the compromise material: abundant, cheap, and deeply unpopular with the public, who found it corroded quickly in circulation.
Barmen itself ceased to exist as an independent city in 1929, absorbed into the newly created Wuppertal.