1 Øre - Haakon VII WW2 German Occupation

Norway's small-denomination coinage underwent a forced material substitution after the German occupation began in April 1940. The shift to iron reflected wartime metal rationing imposed across occupied Europe, with copper and bronze redirected to German military production. These coins were struck under occupation but retained Haakon VII's effigy — a deliberate political choice by the puppet Quisling administration to maintain an appearance of monetary continuity, even as the king himself was directing the government-in-exile from London.

Iron strikes from this series corrode readily, and uncorroded survivors are considerably scarcer than raw survival numbers suggest.