5 Pfennig - Lengerich in Westfalen Wickingwerke

Wickingwerke was a chemical and soap manufacturing company in Lengerich, Westphalia, that issued notgeld during the acute coin shortages of World War I and its aftermath. Factory-issued emergency money of this kind circulated internally — among workers, in company canteens, and at local merchants who accepted it — filling a gap the Reichsbank could not. Zinc was the material of necessity; copper and nickel had been requisitioned for the war effort years earlier.

The Menzel reference numbers suggest this piece is catalogued in both major notgeld editions, indicating it survived in enough quantity to be well-documented.