10 Pfennigs - Nürnberg Dampfbäckerei Karl Polster

Issued by Karl Polster's steam bakery in Nuremberg, this zinc token belongs to the broader phenomenon of German private trade tokens — Gutscheine — that proliferated during the material shortages of World War I, when the imperial government progressively requisitioned copper and nickel for munitions, effectively gutting the small-change supply. Bakeries, dairies, and transit operators across Germany filled the gap with their own issues, redeemable only at the issuing establishment.

Zinc was the compromise material: abundant, cheap, and deeply unpopular with the public, who found it corroded quickly in pocket wear.