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5 Rigsdaler - Christian VII Kongelige Grønlandske Handel
| Issuer | Den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel (Royal Greenlandic Trading Company) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1804 |
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| Reference(s) | P#A10 |
| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed text in red ink on plain paper, enclosed within a simple ruled border frame. The royal monogram of Christian VII appears in the upper left corner, with the handwritten serial number positioned to the upper right. The central field carries the full promissory text in Danish, rendered in period blackletter script, identifying the issuer and place of redemption. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 5 Rigsdaler. Den Kongelige Grönlandſke Handel betaler denne Anviisning ved Handelsſtederne i Grönland med 5 Rdlr., ſkriver Fem Rigsdaler Danſk Courant. Kiöbenhavn 1804. (Translation: 5 Rigsdaler. The Royal Greenlandic Trading will pay this note at the trading posts in Greenland with 5 Rigsdaler, written five Rigsdaler Danish Courant. Copenhagen 1804) |
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| Comments |
Den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel operated as a Danish crown monopoly controlling all trade with Greenland, and its notes functioned as a closed-circuit currency — valid only within the colony and unredeemable outside it. Colonists and workers had no practical choice but to accept them. This 5 Rigsdaler note from 1804 circulated in a trading environment where physical coin shipment across the North Atlantic was both expensive and impractical, making paper the only workable medium.
Christian VII, in whose name the company operated, had by this date been effectively incapacitated for decades — the note's royal attribution was administrative formality, not active royal sanction.