Weißenfels issued this zinc notgeld piece in 1917 as the imperial government's wartime metal requisitions stripped municipal coffers of copper and nickel. Zinc was the fallback for dozens of German towns that year, sourced largely from captured Belgian and French industrial stocks. The Magistrat had limited control over striking quality, which accounts for the documented die variants catalogued under Funck 589.1A and 589.1B — minor differences in spacing or depth that distinguish what were likely two separate production runs from the same authorization.
Weißenfels issued this zinc notgeld piece in 1917 as the imperial government's wartime metal requisitions stripped municipal coffers of copper and nickel. Zinc was the fallback for dozens of German towns that year, sourced largely from captured Belgian and French industrial stocks. The Magistrat had limited control over striking quality, which accounts for the documented die variants catalogued under Funck 589.1A and 589.1B — minor differences in spacing or depth that distinguish what were likely two separate production runs from the same authorization.