Karl Ruland was an Offenbach merchant who issued private emergency coinage — Notgeld — during the acute metal shortages of World War I, when the German imperial government had requisitioned copper and nickel for munitions. Municipal and commercial issuers across Germany filled the resulting small-change vacuum with zinc, iron, and pressed paper tokens. Zinc was the material of last resort: difficult to strike cleanly, prone to oxidation, and unpopular with the public.
The Menzel catalog reference places this squarely within the merchant Notgeld series, a subcategory distinct from the better-documented municipal issues.
Karl Ruland was an Offenbach merchant who issued private emergency coinage — Notgeld — during the acute metal shortages of World War I, when the German imperial government had requisitioned copper and nickel for munitions. Municipal and commercial issuers across Germany filled the resulting small-change vacuum with zinc, iron, and pressed paper tokens. Zinc was the material of last resort: difficult to strike cleanly, prone to oxidation, and unpopular with the public.
The Menzel catalog reference places this squarely within the merchant Notgeld series, a subcategory distinct from the better-documented municipal issues.