Elberfeld issued this zinc notgeld piece in 1917 as the war economy stripped conventional coinage metals entirely from civilian use. The city — then an independent industrial center in the Wupper valley before its forced merger into the newly created city of Wuppertal in 1929 — administered its own emergency currency through the worst of the wartime shortages. Zinc was the compromise material: abundant enough to machine, stable enough to circulate, but deeply unpopular with the public accustomed to nickel and copper.
Elberfeld issued this zinc notgeld piece in 1917 as the war economy stripped conventional coinage metals entirely from civilian use. The city — then an independent industrial center in the Wupper valley before its forced merger into the newly created city of Wuppertal in 1929 — administered its own emergency currency through the worst of the wartime shortages. Zinc was the compromise material: abundant enough to machine, stable enough to circulate, but deeply unpopular with the public accustomed to nickel and copper.