Catalog
5 Skilling
| Issuer | Grønlands Administration |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Skilling |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is divided into two panels: a left panel bearing a faint oval underprint vignette, and a right panel with the issuer name "Grønlands Administration" in script lettering beneath a royal crown vignette at top centre. The denomination numeral "5" is printed in large bold type at centre right, flanked by the bilingual inscriptions "HandelsVærdimærke" and "Trade Certificate". The outer border carries a repeated guilloche ornament with the numeral "5" at each corner and the issuer name in capital letters along the top and bottom margins. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | GRØNLANDS ADMINISTRATION Grønlands Administration Handels Værdimærke 5 Trade Certificate 5 Skilling |
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| Comments |
Greenland's wartime isolation produced some of the most improvised currency anywhere in the Western world. After German occupation of Denmark in April 1940 cut off normal administrative supply lines, the island's governor Aksel Svane authorized emergency notes using whatever materials were locally available. This 5 Skilling piece is among the simplest emergency issues of the Second World War — printed under extremely limited conditions with no access to security printing facilities.
The skilling denomination itself was archaic by 1941, long obsolete in Danish monetary usage, which gives the series an almost accidental quality, as if the choice of unit reflected administrative improvisation rather than deliberate policy.