Germany (Mainz Cietadel) Wert Marke Token 1940

Wert Marke is German for token, similar to notgeld or emergency money. They were manufactured by private companies during economically stressful times in Germany. While the Citadel at Mainz was used for prisoners of war during both WW I and WW II, from the looks of this specimen I'd say it was manufactured during the second war, not the first, so an approximate date would be 1940.

As far as I know, these were made in 1, 2, 10, and 50 pfennig denominations. In general, the higher denominations are worth more than the lower denominations.

Not many of these tokens survive today. For that reason they are quite rare and carry quite a bit of value. If you have one in good shape, like the one in our picture from Munzhandlung Robert Krogoll, figure a catalog value near $50 US dollars. Even in poor condition, the value is decent:

worn: $20 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $30
well preserved: $50

Zinc coins do not wear well. See our Important Terminology page for proper interpretation of these catalog values.

CoinQuest thanks Munzhandlung Robert Krogoll in Lappersdorf, Germany, for use of the photo. It is a nice specimen!

*Update: Keith Hartwell has informed us that he has some of these same tokens from WWI, and that they also exist with denominations of 100.
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