5 Pfennig - Altena Stahldrahtwerk Rahmer

Altena, in the Sauerland region of Westphalia, was one of the centers of German wire and steel production for centuries — a concentration of industry that made it a natural candidate for issuing Notgeld during the shortages of World War I. Private factory tokens like this one from Rahmer's steel wire works circulated among workers when small-denomination coins disappeared from the economy, hoarded by a public that correctly anticipated worse to come. Zinc was the practical substitute once copper and nickel were redirected to the war effort.