5 Pfennig - Leutenberg Joh. Paul

Leutenberg is a small town in the Thuringian highlands, and by late 1918 the German imperial currency system had effectively collapsed at the local level — coal shortages, transport disruptions, and hoarding had stripped small-denomination coins from everyday commerce entirely. Joh. Paul, almost certainly a local merchant or small manufacturer, issued this zinc piece as private Notgeld to keep transactions moving when the Reichsbank simply could not supply adequate coinage. Zinc was the material of necessity: copper and nickel were war requisitions by then.