Nuremberg's café token economy flourished in the late Wilhelmine and early Weimar periods, when establishments issued house currency to manage tabs, discourage theft of small change, and sidestep the chronic coin shortages that plagued civilian commerce — particularly acute during and immediately after the First World War. Café Central was one of dozens of Nuremberg establishments that ran parallel small-denomination systems, zinc having replaced brass and nickel as the practical metal of necessity by the early 1920s.
Nuremberg's café token economy flourished in the late Wilhelmine and early Weimar periods, when establishments issued house currency to manage tabs, discourage theft of small change, and sidestep the chronic coin shortages that plagued civilian commerce — particularly acute during and immediately after the First World War. Café Central was one of dozens of Nuremberg establishments that ran parallel small-denomination systems, zinc having replaced brass and nickel as the practical metal of necessity by the early 1920s.