Pappenheim's zinc notgeld coinage dates to the post-WWI emergency currency period, when the Allied Control Commission's restrictions on German metal coinage left municipal authorities scrambling to fill the void left by hoarded copper and nickel. Zinc was the material of last resort — cheap, workable, but prone to oxidation that makes fully uncorroded survivors harder to locate than mintage figures alone would suggest.
Pappenheim's zinc notgeld coinage dates to the post-WWI emergency currency period, when the Allied Control Commission's restrictions on German metal coinage left municipal authorities scrambling to fill the void left by hoarded copper and nickel. Zinc was the material of last resort — cheap, workable, but prone to oxidation that makes fully uncorroded survivors harder to locate than mintage figures alone would suggest.