50 Pfennig - Zirndorf

Zirndorf's 1917 zinc notgeld issue belongs to the first wave of German municipal emergency coinage, prompted by the wartime hoarding of copper and nickel that left small-change circulation nearly paralyzed by mid-1916. The Imperial government's failure to supply adequate subsidiary coinage pushed hundreds of municipalities to strike their own pieces under loosely supervised arrangements with local or regional mints.

Zinc was the default material by this point — copper requisitioned for shell casings, nickel likewise diverted.