5 Skilling Type II; oval stamp

Greenland's wartime isolation after Denmark's occupation in April 1940 created an immediate administrative problem: the island was cut off from its normal supply of currency and under the effective protection of the United States. The existing Greenlandic administration, operating with unusual autonomy under Governor Eske Brun, improvised a series of local emergency notes rather than allow a currency vacuum to develop.

The Type II designation refers to the oval overprint stamp applied to distinguish this issue from the first type — a practical fix, not a planned revision. SIEG SD#81 is among the more elusive entries in the series; quantities were small and survival rates reflect the harsh archival conditions of a wartime Arctic administration.