5 Mark - Uerdingen W A G

Wagenfabrik AG Uerdingen was a railcar manufacturer pressed into a very different kind of production during the occupation and immediate postwar period — local authorities and private firms across the Rhineland issued emergency coinage (Notgeld) when Reichsmark supplies were disrupted and small change essentially vanished from circulation. This zinc piece is one such industrial scrip issue, its value tied entirely to the credibility of the company behind it rather than any central monetary authority.

Zinc was the material of last resort, chosen because copper and nickel were long gone into the war economy.