Bensheim issued this zinc notgeld piece in 1917 as wartime metal requisitions stripped German municipalities of their copper and nickel supplies. The Reich had been systematically recalling higher-value coinage metals since 1915, leaving local authorities to fill the small-change vacuum themselves. Zinc was the compromise material — abundant, workable, but corroding readily in circulation, which accounts for the difficulty in finding survivors with clean surfaces.
Bensheim issued this zinc notgeld piece in 1917 as wartime metal requisitions stripped German municipalities of their copper and nickel supplies. The Reich had been systematically recalling higher-value coinage metals since 1915, leaving local authorities to fill the small-change vacuum themselves. Zinc was the compromise material — abundant, workable, but corroding readily in circulation, which accounts for the difficulty in finding survivors with clean surfaces.