Sächsische Waggonfabrik Werdau was one of Saxony's principal railway carriage manufacturers, and like many large industrial firms during the First World War, it issued its own emergency coinage — Kriegsgeld — when the Imperial government's requisitioning of copper and nickel left employers unable to pay workers in small change. These zinc pieces circulated internally, redeemable at company facilities, and were never intended to outlast the shortage that created them.
Sächsische Waggonfabrik Werdau was one of Saxony's principal railway carriage manufacturers, and like many large industrial firms during the First World War, it issued its own emergency coinage — Kriegsgeld — when the Imperial government's requisitioning of copper and nickel left employers unable to pay workers in small change. These zinc pieces circulated internally, redeemable at company facilities, and were never intended to outlast the shortage that created them.