Romania switched to zinc coinage in 1942 as wartime metal requisitioning stripped the economy of copper and nickel — both redirected toward the German war machine under the terms of Romania's alliance with the Axis. Zinc was a stopgap, nobody's preferred coinage metal, and it showed: the alloy corrodes aggressively in any humidity, and surviving examples in problem-free condition are far less common than raw mintage figures suggest.
Mihai I had been restored to the throne in September 1940 after his father Carol II abdicated under pressure from the Iron Guard and the Wehrmacht's effective occupation of Romanian territory.
Romania switched to zinc coinage in 1942 as wartime metal requisitioning stripped the economy of copper and nickel — both redirected toward the German war machine under the terms of Romania's alliance with the Axis. Zinc was a stopgap, nobody's preferred coinage metal, and it showed: the alloy corrodes aggressively in any humidity, and surviving examples in problem-free condition are far less common than raw mintage figures suggest.
Mihai I had been restored to the throne in September 1940 after his father Carol II abdicated under pressure from the Iron Guard and the Wehrmacht's effective occupation of Romanian territory.