Wasserburg am Inn issued this zinc notgeld piece in 1917, when wartime metal requisitions had stripped municipal coffers of copper and nickel. The Imperial German government's systematic confiscation of non-ferrous metals for munitions production forced hundreds of towns and districts to improvise emergency coinage in whatever base material remained available. Zinc was the default — cheap, workable, but prone to corrosion, which accounts for the poor survival rate of well-preserved examples across the entire 1916–1918 municipal issue series.
Wasserburg am Inn issued this zinc notgeld piece in 1917, when wartime metal requisitions had stripped municipal coffers of copper and nickel. The Imperial German government's systematic confiscation of non-ferrous metals for munitions production forced hundreds of towns and districts to improvise emergency coinage in whatever base material remained available. Zinc was the default — cheap, workable, but prone to corrosion, which accounts for the poor survival rate of well-preserved examples across the entire 1916–1918 municipal issue series.