Furtwangen's 1918 emergency coinage — Kriegsgeld issued as the German imperial economy buckled under wartime metal requisitions — reflects the near-total disappearance of small-denomination coinage from everyday circulation by the final year of the war. Copper and nickel had long since been commandeered for munitions; zinc was the last practical option left to municipal authorities scrambling to keep local commerce functional.
Furtwangen's 1918 emergency coinage — Kriegsgeld issued as the German imperial economy buckled under wartime metal requisitions — reflects the near-total disappearance of small-denomination coinage from everyday circulation by the final year of the war. Copper and nickel had long since been commandeered for munitions; zinc was the last practical option left to municipal authorities scrambling to keep local commerce functional.