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5 Pfennig - Wassermungenau Fritz Wagner
| Issuer | Fritz Wagner, Wassermungenau |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Zinc |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | KLEINGELDERSATZMARKE ✭ ✭ ✭ |
| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Wassermungenau is a village in Middle Franconia, Bavaria, and this piece is a classic example of the emergency coinage — Kriegsgeld or Notgeld — that flooded Germany after zinc and copper were requisitioned for the war effort beginning in 1916. Local merchants, businesses, and estates were permitted to issue their own small-denomination tokens to fill the void left by vanishing official coinage. Fritz Wagner was almost certainly a local tradesman or innkeeper; the denomination was functional, not commemorative.
Zinc was the material of necessity here, chosen precisely because it had marginal strategic value compared to copper.