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10 Øre Great Norwegian Spitsbergen Coal Company
| Issuer | Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (Great Norwegian Spitsbergen Coal Company) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919-1926 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Plain cream paper note printed in black Gothic letterpress script throughout. The issuer's name, Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani Aktieselskap, is set in an ornate blackletter cartouche at centre, flanked by decorative flourishes. A large green underprint of the numeral '10' occupies the central field behind the text block, which details the conditions of use in Norwegian and references the 1925/26 season. The series designation appears in a box at upper left, the serial number at upper right, and two manuscript signatures are inscribed at the foot, with their respective titles below. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 10øre |
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| Comments |
Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani operated a genuine company town economy on Svalbard — Norwegian sovereignty over the archipelago wasn't formally settled until the 1920 Sverdrup Treaty came into force in 1925, meaning these tokens circulated in a legal grey zone where Norwegian law had limited reach and the company ran its own parallel monetary system. Workers at Longyearbyen were paid partly in this scrip, redeemable only at the company store, a practice that effectively bound wages to company-controlled prices.
The SN4r reference denotes a remainder — unissued stock that survived without cancellation, which accounts for most examples seen today.