5 Pfennig - Neustadt an der Haardt

Neustadt an der Haardt issued this zinc notgeld piece in 1917, when the German war economy had stripped copper and nickel from civilian coinage entirely. The city — a wine-trading center in the Palatinate — was one of hundreds of municipalities forced to produce emergency small change as the Reichsbank failed to keep fractional currency in circulation. Zinc was the compromise material: cheap, available, and deeply unpopular with the public, who found it corroded quickly in pocket wear. Most survivors show exactly that.