1 Rigsdaler Courant - Christian VII Backprint on Danish note, blue paper

Kurantbanken — formally the Banco di Kiøbenhavn — was the first chartered bank of issue in Denmark, established in 1736 and perpetually undercapitalized. By the 1790s it was printing notes against increasingly shaky specie reserves, a situation that would culminate in the state bankruptcy of 1813. This 1 Rigsdaler Courant belongs to the reign of Christian VII, though by this period the king was entirely incapacitated by mental illness and government was effectively conducted by others in his name.

The blue paper itself is the distinguishing feature of this issue — a deliberate differentiation from the white-stock notes of earlier and concurrent series. The dry stamp was the bank's primary anti-counterfeiting measure, modest by any standard.