50 Pfennig - Saarburg in Lothringen

Sarrebourg — then administered as Saarburg in Lothringen under the German Reich — issued this notgeld as the wartime metal shortage stripped conventional coinage from everyday use. Zinc was the compromise material of municipal necessity; copper and nickel had long since been requisitioned for shell casings and military hardware by 1917. The multiple catalog references reflecting two Men18 numbers suggest at least minor die or punch variations exist within this type, a common situation with municipal zinc issues where production oversight was informal at best.