5 Pfennig - Düsseldorf M.-Fabr. Rheinland A.G.

Maschinenfabrik Rheinland A.G. was one of hundreds of German industrial firms forced to issue their own emergency coinage during the Notgeld crisis of the early 1920s, when chronic small-denomination coin shortages left factory payroll offices unable to make change. These pieces circulated exclusively within the issuing firm's ecosystem — canteen purchases, wage supplements, internal transactions — and were redeemable only through the company itself, which kept redemption deliberately inconvenient to reduce liability.

Zinc was the material of last resort, chosen because brass and copper had been stripped from the civilian economy during the war years.