Bad Bertrich is a small spa town in the Eifel region, and like hundreds of German municipalities in 1917, it issued notgeld coins as the imperial war economy stripped copper and nickel from civilian circulation. Zinc was the fallback — cheap, available, and deeply unpopular with the public for its tendency to corrode and pit in pocket wear. Survivors in clean condition are the exception, not the rule.
Bad Bertrich is a small spa town in the Eifel region, and like hundreds of German municipalities in 1917, it issued notgeld coins as the imperial war economy stripped copper and nickel from civilian circulation. Zinc was the fallback — cheap, available, and deeply unpopular with the public for its tendency to corrode and pit in pocket wear. Survivors in clean condition are the exception, not the rule.