The Volks Kaffee und Speisehallen Gesellschaft was founded in Berlin during the 1880s as part of the broader German temperance movement's push to provide working-class populations with cheap, alcohol-free meals and coffee. These canteen tokens served as prepaid meal credits, limiting opportunities for wage spending at taverns. Zinc was chosen deliberately — a base metal with no street value, useless outside the issuing hall.
The Volks Kaffee und Speisehallen Gesellschaft was founded in Berlin during the 1880s as part of the broader German temperance movement's push to provide working-class populations with cheap, alcohol-free meals and coffee. These canteen tokens served as prepaid meal credits, limiting opportunities for wage spending at taverns. Zinc was chosen deliberately — a base metal with no street value, useless outside the issuing hall.