Rapp Motorenwerke was a Munich aero-engine manufacturer that would, in 1917, reorganize and rename itself Bayerische Motoren Werke — BMW. These zinc emergency tokens date to the World War I period, when acute small-change shortages forced German municipalities and private firms alike to issue their own notgeld coinage. Zinc was the fallback material once copper and nickel were redirected to the war effort.
Rapp Motorenwerke was a Munich aero-engine manufacturer that would, in 1917, reorganize and rename itself Bayerische Motoren Werke — BMW. These zinc emergency tokens date to the World War I period, when acute small-change shortages forced German municipalities and private firms alike to issue their own notgeld coinage. Zinc was the fallback material once copper and nickel were redirected to the war effort.