25 Pfennigs - Augsburg Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg

MAN issued this zinc notgeld token during the post-WWI shortage of small coinage, when the German state mint system had collapsed under wartime metal demands and the Reichsbank could not reliably supply subsidiary currency to large industrial employers. Factory tokens like this one were a practical necessity — workers needed change for canteen purchases and small transactions on site, and MAN's Augsburg works employed thousands. Zinc was the only metal available in quantity once copper, nickel, and even iron had been commandeered for the war effort.