The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was not a sovereign state but a Nazi administrative fiction imposed after Germany's occupation of the Czech lands in March 1939. Its coinage — including this zinc issue — was a deliberate economic tool: the Reich had requisitioned Czech gold and silver reserves almost immediately, making base-metal substitutes a necessity rather than a choice. Zinc was the occupier's metal of preference across occupied Europe, conserving strategic materials for the war economy.
Czech zinc coins from this period corrode aggressively in anything but ideal storage conditions, and survivors in undamaged state are considerably scarcer than mintage figures suggest.
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was not a sovereign state but a Nazi administrative fiction imposed after Germany's occupation of the Czech lands in March 1939. Its coinage — including this zinc issue — was a deliberate economic tool: the Reich had requisitioned Czech gold and silver reserves almost immediately, making base-metal substitutes a necessity rather than a choice. Zinc was the occupier's metal of preference across occupied Europe, conserving strategic materials for the war economy.
Czech zinc coins from this period corrode aggressively in anything but ideal storage conditions, and survivors in undamaged state are considerably scarcer than mintage figures suggest.