Catalog
1 Skilling
| Issuer | Grønlands Administration |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in red and black on cream-coloured paper. At left, an oval letterpress vignette bears the inscription GRØNLANDS ADMINISTRATION surrounding a central crown device. The right half carries the issuer name Grønlands Administration in script lettering above the bilingual denomination inscription HandelsVærdimærke / Trade Certificate, with the large numeral 1 at centre. The top and bottom borders repeat the legend GRØNLANDS ADMINISTRATION, while the side margins carry the denomination 1 Skilling in vertical orientation flanked by repeating ornamental devices. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | GRØNLANDS ADMINISTRATION Grønlands Administration HandelsVærdimærke 1 Trade Certificate 1 Skilling |
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| Comments |
Greenland's wartime currency situation was genuinely unusual. When Germany occupied Denmark in April 1940, the island was effectively cut off from Copenhagen and its normal supply lines. The Danish Governor Henrik Kauffmann, operating with considerable autonomy, arranged for the United States to assume a protective role over Greenland in 1941 — the same year this note was issued. The Administration was essentially running a isolated Arctic territory under wartime conditions, issuing its own scrip because metropolitan supply was severed.
The 1 Skilling sits at the bottom of the Grønlands Administration wartime series, which used archaic denomination names — skilling had not been legal tender in Denmark proper for decades by this point.