During and after WWI, money, especially small change, was in short supply and this was down to several reasons. There had been an expansion of the German occupied territories and too much 'real money' had flowed to those new areas. Nickel coins were gradually withdrawn from circulation so that the metal could be used in the war efforts and people's natural tendency to hold onto something of value. (i.e.) coins and banknotes, furthered the shortage.

The value and price of silver had also risen dramatically so all the silver coins vanished from circulation, as their intrinsic value was higher than their face value. There had been a lack of small face-value regular change since 1916 and this was felt throughout the entire country. The striking of 50pf coins had taken far too long, it was stated by the national bank possibly due to lack of workers because of the war. The coinage was now being made from zinc and iron and then aluminium ...... .....and today, there are still many metal notgeld coins from around 1917 that can be found by the collector.