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| Issuer | Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (Great Norwegian Spitsbergen Coal Company) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917-1918 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | NP#SN19, SN19r |
| Obverse description | Pale green note with an all-over fine guilloche underprint covering the entire field. The issuer's name, Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani Aktieselskab, is set in ornate Gothic blackletter script within a decorative cartouche at the centre, above the denomination value "1 - En krone" framed by small scroll ornaments. The full text of the payment conditions is printed in a smaller cursive hand below, with the serial number and series reference in black overprint at the upper left and right, and a manuscript signature of the chairman of the board at the lower left above the printed titles "Styrets formand" and "Kontorchef, Spitsbergen". |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Unprinted plain white paper reverse, with a ghost show-through of the obverse text visible through the thin paper stock. |
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| Comments |
Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani issued scrip for internal use at its Svalbard mining operations, where the archipelago's legal status made conventional Norwegian currency impractical to administer. Spitsbergen had no sovereign government before the 1920 Treaty of Paris — it was effectively a no-man's-land under international law — and the company ran the settlement at Longyearbyen as a closed economy, with workers paid and provisioned entirely through company channels.
The SN19r designation suggests a remainder exists, which is consistent with scrip series that outlasted their issuing period and were never fully redeemed before the operation's administrative structure changed post-treaty.