5 Pfennig - Dortmund

Dortmund's zinc notgeld of 1917 appeared when the German imperial government had already requisitioned most copper and nickel for shell casings and equipment, leaving municipalities to scramble for emergency substitutes. Zinc was the compromise — abundant enough, but prone to corrosion and brittleness, which is why survivors in clean condition are consistently harder to locate than the original mintage figures might suggest. Dortmund was among the earlier Westphalian cities to issue municipal emergency coinage rather than wait for central redistribution.