50 Pfennig - Frankenthal Zuckerfabrik

Frankenthal's sugar factory issued this iron notgeld piece in 1918 as Germany's wartime metal requisitions stripped away copper and nickel coinage faster than the Reichsbank could replace it. Industrial firms, municipalities, and even individual businesses were legally empowered to fill the gap with their own emergency issues — redeemable, in theory, against goods or wages at the issuing firm. The Zuckerfabrik Frankenthal's issue was almost certainly intended for internal wage payment or canteen use among factory workers.

Iron was the default emergency material by late 1918, corroding readily in circulation. Uncorroded survivors are the exception rather than the rule.