10 Pfennig - Frechen Wachtberg I, Wilhelma, Windling

These zinc tokens were issued by the Frechen brown coal mining operations — Wachtberg I, Wilhelma, and Windling — as internal scrip for use in the mine canteens and company stores that dominated worker commerce in the Rhineland lignite fields. German mining companies issued such tokens extensively through the mid-twentieth century, partly to keep wages cycling within company-controlled commerce and partly because small-denomination coinage was chronically scarce during wartime and occupation periods. Zinc was the material of necessity, not choice — copper and nickel had military priority.