50 Pfennig - Oerlinghausen Carl Weber and C° G.m.b.H.

Oerlinghausen notgeld of this type was issued under wartime emergency provisions that stripped municipalities and private firms alike of their copper and nickel stocks for shell casings, forcing local businesses to self-issue subsidiary coinage in zinc, iron, and pressed paper. Carl Weber & C° was a textile manufacturer — Oerlinghausen was a center of the linen industry in the Teutoburg Forest region — issuing its own fractional currency simply to make change for workers when the Reichsbank could not keep small denominations in circulation.