5 Pfennig - Aumund-Vegesack Fr. Lürssen

Fr. Lürssen Schiffswerft, founded in 1875 on the Weser at Aumund-Vegesack near Bremen, issued this zinc notgeld piece during the acute small-change shortage that gripped Germany in the early Weimar period. Shipyard tokens of this type circulated as internal wage supplements or canteen currency, redeemable only within the issuing company's premises — a practice that effectively tied workers' spending to employer-controlled outlets.

The Lürssen yard would later achieve notoriety building the fast patrol boats and torpedo craft that became central to the Kriegsmarine's coastal strategy. In 1922, it was just trying to pay its workers in a country that had run out of small coins.