2 Pfennig - Düsseldorf M.-Fabr. Rheinland A.G.

Maschinenfabrik Rheinland A.G. was among hundreds of German industrial firms that issued their own notgeld coinage during the acute small-change shortages of the early 1920s, when hyperinflation was destroying the purchasing power of official currency faster than the Reichsbank could respond. Factory-issued tokens like this one functioned as internal scrip — paid out in wages, redeemable at company canteens or cooperative stores, and rarely seen outside the plant gates.

Zinc was the default material for these issues precisely because it was cheap and easy to strike in small quantities. The Menzel catalog distinguishes two varieties at this reference pair.