10 Pfennig - Swinemünde

Swinemünde issued this zinc notgeld piece in 1917 as the German imperial coinage system buckled under wartime metal requisitions. Copper and nickel had been redirected to armaments production since 1915, leaving municipal authorities across Germany to fill the small-change vacuum with locally struck substitutes. Zinc was the compromise material — workable, cheap, and sufficiently unappealing to hoarders.

Funck 529.2 distinguishes a specific die variant within the Swinemünde issues, suggesting the city struck in more than one production run.