50 Pfennig - Schwarzenbach an der Saale

Schwarzenbach an der Saale is a small textile-industry town in Upper Franconia, and this zinc piece is a product of the acute metal shortages that swept German municipalities from 1916 onward. With copper and nickel requisitioned for the war effort, hundreds of German towns independently commissioned emergency coinage — Kriegsgeld — from local printers and die cutters, resulting in the sprawling and inconsistently catalogued series that collectors now navigate through references like Funck and Menzel.

Zinc was a compromise material: cheap, available, but prone to oxidation and edge cracking. Survivors in clean condition are the exception rather than the rule.