Hersbruck's 1917 zinc notgeld issue belongs to the first wave of German municipal emergency coinage, when the imperial government's wartime metal requisitions stripped copper and nickel from civilian minting entirely. Small Bavarian towns like Hersbruck were effectively left to solve their own small-change shortages, producing locally authorized pieces with whatever base metals remained available. Zinc was the unsatisfying answer — prone to corrosion, difficult to strike cleanly, and disliked by the public who received it.
The Funck 210.2 designation distinguishes this from at least one other Hersbruck type, confirming the city issued multiple notgeld varieties across the period.
Hersbruck's 1917 zinc notgeld issue belongs to the first wave of German municipal emergency coinage, when the imperial government's wartime metal requisitions stripped copper and nickel from civilian minting entirely. Small Bavarian towns like Hersbruck were effectively left to solve their own small-change shortages, producing locally authorized pieces with whatever base metals remained available. Zinc was the unsatisfying answer — prone to corrosion, difficult to strike cleanly, and disliked by the public who received it.
The Funck 210.2 designation distinguishes this from at least one other Hersbruck type, confirming the city issued multiple notgeld varieties across the period.