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5 Kroner Bear Island
| Issuer | Bjørnøen A.S. |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920-1921 |
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| Size | 100 x 60 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Betalingsmerke utstedt av BJØRNØEN A.S. Mot dette betalingsmerke, som er utstedt for tilgodehavende løn, utleverer BJØRNØEN A.S. til ihændehaveren varer for et beløp av kroner 5 FEM KRONER Ubenyttede betalingsmerker blir ved ihændeha- verens avreise fra Bjørnøen i sæsonen 1920-21 at tilbakelevere til kontoret mot beløpets god- skrivning i opgjøret. Merket er ugyldig uten- for Bjørnøen og efter sæsonens slut. DISPONENT KONTORCHEF, BJØRNØEN. (Translation: Payment note issued by Bear Island LLC Against this payment note, which is issued for outstanding wages, Bear Island LLC delivers to the bearer good for an amount of 5 kroner. Unused payment notes should when the bearer departs from Bear Island in the season 1920/21 be returned to the office against credit of the amount in the settlement. The note is invalid outside Bear Island and after the end of the season. Manager Office manager, Bear Island.) |
| Reverse description | Reverse is blank, showing only the plain light brown paper stock with faint show-through of the obverse letterpress impression. |
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| Comments |
Bjørnøen A/S was a Norwegian mining company that held a concession on Bear Island, the remote Arctic outpost roughly halfway between Norway and Svitsbergen, and issued its own scrip currency for use at the company store — the only commercial establishment on the island. These notes functioned as a closed-loop wage system: workers were paid in company scrip redeemable only within the settlement, a practice common enough in isolated extractive industries but rarely documented this far north.
The company's coal operations on Bear Island ultimately proved uneconomical, and the enterprise collapsed not long after this scrip was issued. Surviving examples are genuinely scarce given the tiny population they ever circulated among.