Den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel operated as Greenland's monopoly trading authority from the eighteenth century onward, and its paper scrip functioned as the island's de facto currency — entirely detached from normal Danish monetary circulation. These notes were valid only within Greenland's trading posts, exchangeable for goods rather than redeemable through any conventional banking mechanism.
The Type II designation distinguishes this from the earlier guilloche-edged printing: straight-cut edges and a watermarked sheet replaced the more elaborate border treatment. The watermark addition was a deliberate anti-counterfeiting measure, though the isolated population made forgery a largely theoretical concern.
Pick 7B is among the scarcer survivors of the pre-WWI Greenlandic issues, partly because worn notes were routinely destroyed at the trading posts rather than returned to Copenhagen.
Den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel operated as Greenland's monopoly trading authority from the eighteenth century onward, and its paper scrip functioned as the island's de facto currency — entirely detached from normal Danish monetary circulation. These notes were valid only within Greenland's trading posts, exchangeable for goods rather than redeemable through any conventional banking mechanism.
The Type II designation distinguishes this from the earlier guilloche-edged printing: straight-cut edges and a watermarked sheet replaced the more elaborate border treatment. The watermark addition was a deliberate anti-counterfeiting measure, though the isolated population made forgery a largely theoretical concern.
Pick 7B is among the scarcer survivors of the pre-WWI Greenlandic issues, partly because worn notes were routinely destroyed at the trading posts rather than returned to Copenhagen.