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12 Skilling Courant / 1/8 Rigsdaler Colonien Julianehaab i Grønland
| Issuer | Kongelige Grønlandske Handel (Royal Greenlandic Trade) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1803 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Rigsdaler courant (1803-1873) |
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| Obverse description | Plain typeset note in letterpress, divided into a primary text field with a ruled border on the left side and a smaller boxed value panel in the upper right corner. The body carries the promissory text in blackletter Danish script, stating the note's validity at the Colony of Julianehaab in Greenland for 1/8 Rigsdaler or 12 Skilling Courant, dated Copenhagen 1803. Below the main text appears the authority line of the administrating directorate of the Royal Greenlandic Trade, followed by a manuscript signature. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Kongelige Grönlandske Handel Tolv Skilling danſk Courant Denne Anviisning gielder ved Colonien Julianehaab i Grønland for 1/8 Rdlr. eller 12 Skilling danſk C. Kiøbenhavn, 1803. Den adminiſtrerende Direction for den Kongl. Grønlandſke handel (Translation: Royal Greenlandic Trading 12 Skilling Danish Courant This note is valid at the Colony of Julianehaab in Greenland for 1/8 of a Rigsdaler or 12 Skilling Courant. Copenhagen, 1803 The administrating direction for the Royal Greenlandic Trading) |
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| Comments |
Kongelige Grønlandske Handel operated Greenland as a royal trading monopoly, and these notes were never intended for open-market use — they functioned as scrip within a closed company economy, redeemable only at KGH trading posts. Settlers and workers had no meaningful alternative. The dual denomination inscription, expressing the same value in both the old skilling courant system and the newer rigsdaler fractional unit, reflects the awkward monetary transition Denmark was navigating in the early nineteenth century before the 1813 state bankruptcy forced a full reckoning.
Surviving examples from this 1803 issue are genuinely rare. The Greenlandic climate was brutal on paper, and the scrip was never meant to last — once redeemed, notes were destroyed rather than recirculated.