Zinc Coins in Occupied Belgium

To obviate the great shortage of fractional currency in occupied Belgium, a shortage that hindered the most modest transactions, the German authorities decided early in March, 1918, to emit a large issue of zinc coins with a face value of 50 centimes, (10 cents.) The new coins have a diameter of 24 millimeters and bear on the face a coat-of-arms with a lion above a laurel branch, and with the value of the coin on the right. The obverse bears a five-pointed star, the inscription "België-Belgique," and the date. The centre of each coin is pierced by a hole 4½ millimeters in diameter.