20 Pfennig - Blankenstein

Blankenstein was a small town in the Principality of Reuss-Schleiz, and this zinc piece belongs to the wave of municipal notgeld coinage that flooded Germany between 1917 and 1921 as wartime metal shortages made official small change virtually nonexistent. Zinc was the compromise material — cheap, available, and deeply unpopular with the public, who found it corroded quickly in pocket wear.

The Funck reference places this among the more obscure municipal issuers, with Reuss-area notgeld consistently underrepresented in major collections outside Germany.