5 Pfennigs - Schleiz Hofkonditorei Carl Ried'l

Schleiz, a small residency town in the Reuss principalities of Thuringia, saw a proliferation of private emergency coinage during the post-WWI shortages, when zinc and aluminum tokens issued by local merchants briefly substituted for official small change. Hofkonditorei Carl Riedl — a court confectionery, the "Hof" prefix indicating a formal appointment to the princely household — issued these pieces for in-store transactions when pfennig coinage had effectively vanished from circulation by 1919–1921.

The Reuss principalities themselves had ceased to exist by late 1918, leaving Riedl's "court" designation a ceremonial holdover from a dissolved monarchy.