2 Pfennig - Ruhla Thiel and Schuchardt

Ruhla, a small town in the Thuringian forest, developed one of Germany's densest concentrations of private manufacturing firms in the nineteenth century, many of which issued their own token coinage to manage wage payments and company store transactions. Thiel & Schuchardt operated in this tradition, producing zinc pfennig pieces for internal circulation among their workforce. Zinc was the practical choice during periods of copper scarcity, though it corrodes aggressively in handled condition — survivors in decent shape are rarer than catalog frequency suggests.