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50 Pfennig - Speyer
| Issuer | City of Speyer |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | 1.1 mm |
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| Obverse description | A pearl border runs along the inner rim of the coin, encircling the municipal coat of arms of Speyer at center, which depicts a stylized city gate with three arched portals surmounted by towers and a central dome with a cross finial, all set within a heraldic shield. The circular legend reads KREISHAUPTSTADT above and SPEYER below, flanking the shield, separated by two six-pointed star ornaments at the lateral fields. The overall design reflects the utilitarian yet civic-proud character typical of World War I German notgeld coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Speyer's 1918 zinc notgeld issue belongs to the first wave of municipal emergency coinage that flooded Germany after the Reichsbank suspended small denomination metal circulation — a direct consequence of wartime metal requisitioning that stripped copper and nickel from the monetary system entirely. By 1918, dozens of Rhenish cities were striking their own subsidiary coinage simply to make change possible.
Zinc was the fallback material of necessity, not preference, and Speyer's pieces show the corrosion susceptibility that plagues nearly every zinc notgeld survivor from this period.