Manoli was one of Berlin's best-known cigarette manufacturers, operating out of a large factory complex in the city. Like many industrial canteens across Germany in 1918, the Kantine issued its own zinc emergency tokens as the wartime metal shortage gutted the regular coinage supply — by that point, copper and nickel had been redirected to the war effort for years, and workers needed something to make change at the lunch counter.
Zinc was the fallback material of last resort for notgeld issuers that year.
Manoli was one of Berlin's best-known cigarette manufacturers, operating out of a large factory complex in the city. Like many industrial canteens across Germany in 1918, the Kantine issued its own zinc emergency tokens as the wartime metal shortage gutted the regular coinage supply — by that point, copper and nickel had been redirected to the war effort for years, and workers needed something to make change at the lunch counter.
Zinc was the fallback material of last resort for notgeld issuers that year.