Belgium's zinc coinage of this period was a direct product of German occupation — the Reichskommissariat ordered the removal of copper and nickel from circulation for war production, leaving zinc as the only permissible base metal. These coins were struck under occupation authority despite bearing the Belgian royal name, a political fiction that the mint had little power to resist.
Zinc corrodes aggressively in any humidity, and surviving examples in problem-free condition are genuinely scarce relative to the mintage figures. The 1942 date is the most common; pieces from the final years of the run show increasingly inconsistent planchet quality as wartime material supplies deteriorated.
Belgium's zinc coinage of this period was a direct product of German occupation — the Reichskommissariat ordered the removal of copper and nickel from circulation for war production, leaving zinc as the only permissible base metal. These coins were struck under occupation authority despite bearing the Belgian royal name, a political fiction that the mint had little power to resist.
Zinc corrodes aggressively in any humidity, and surviving examples in problem-free condition are genuinely scarce relative to the mintage figures. The 1942 date is the most common; pieces from the final years of the run show increasingly inconsistent planchet quality as wartime material supplies deteriorated.