50 Pfennigs - Lichtenberg Paul Kertzscher

Paul Kertzscher was a Lichtenberg manufacturer who issued notgeld during the acute coin shortage of World War One, when the German imperial government's metal requisitions stripped everyday commerce of small change almost overnight. Private and municipal emergency issues like this one filled the gap at the local level, backed by nothing more than the issuer's commercial reputation. Zinc was the material of necessity — copper and nickel had gone to the war effort.