5 Pfennig - Duisdorf Westdeutsche Porzellanfabrik

Westdeutsche Porzellanfabrik issued zinc notgeld during the early 1920s when the collapse of the German mark made it impossible for employers to obtain sufficient small-denomination coinage to meet payroll. Factory-issued pieces like this one functioned as internal scrip, redeemable at company facilities — a workaround that kept production lines running when the Reichsbank could not keep pace with inflation-driven coin shortages. The Duisdorf facility was one of dozens of industrial concerns across the Rhineland that resorted to private issue rather than halt operations.