12 Skilling - Frederick VI Skillemønt

The Skillemønt series was introduced as small-change paper currency to alleviate a chronic shortage of copper coin — a problem that had grown acute in Denmark following the economic disruptions of the Napoleonic Wars and the British bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, which severed normal trade and credit flows. Frederick VI had assumed full royal authority only in 1808, and these notes were among the earliest fiscal instruments issued under his direct reign rather than his regency.

The impressed monogram was the primary security device, a relatively primitive safeguard even by contemporary standards. Counterfeiting of the lower Skillemønt denominations was a documented problem throughout the series' circulation life.