2 Pfennig - Gleiwitz Drahtwerke

Gleiwitz Drahtwerke — the Gleiwitz Wire Works — was an industrial operation in Upper Silesia that issued notgeld coinage during the material shortages of World War I, when the German imperial government had stripped conventional coinage metals for the war effort. Factory and municipal token issues of this type filled the gap left by disappearing small change, circulating internally among workers or within local commerce. The zinc composition is entirely characteristic of the period's constraints.