Grafenau sits deep in the Bavarian Forest near the Austrian border, and the Papierfabrik at Elsenthal was one of the region's significant industrial employers when the postwar small-change crisis — the Kleingeldnot — forced hundreds of German firms to issue their own emergency coinage. Zinc was the practical choice by 1920: aluminium supplies were tighter, and the private notgeld issuers had little leverage with metal suppliers during the transition chaos following the armistice economy.
Paper mills issuing coin on zinc is a particular irony the catalog rarely pauses on.
Grafenau sits deep in the Bavarian Forest near the Austrian border, and the Papierfabrik at Elsenthal was one of the region's significant industrial employers when the postwar small-change crisis — the Kleingeldnot — forced hundreds of German firms to issue their own emergency coinage. Zinc was the practical choice by 1920: aluminium supplies were tighter, and the private notgeld issuers had little leverage with metal suppliers during the transition chaos following the armistice economy.
Paper mills issuing coin on zinc is a particular irony the catalog rarely pauses on.