BANKNOTES OF NORWAY
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The history of Norway's currency
Norway was independent until the Danish King
inherited the Norwegian throne in 1387. Norway had a union with Denmark from
1380 until 1814. A Union was then formed with Sweden from 1814 and in 1905
Norway gained its independence from Sweden. Norway was occupied by German forces
from April 9, 1940 and remained under German control until May 8, 1945.
Norway first followed the Danish monetary system
using the Danish riksdaler courant as the medium of exchange and the gold krone
as the unit of account. In Norway the riksdaler was divided into four
"ort" or ninety-six "skilling". After forming the union with Denmark, Norway
adopted the speciedaler as its primary unit of account. One speciesdaler was
divided into 5 ort or 120 skilling.
In
1814 when Norway and Sweden formed their union, the Swedish had already both
coins and paper money circulating in Norway. There were two separate Swedish
currencies circulating concurrently in Norway. The Swedish paper money currency
was known as the "paper riksdaler" and was divisible into "kopparmynt dalers", "kopparmynt
marks" and "kopparmynt øre". The Swedish coin currency known as the "riksdaler
specie" was divided into 48 skilling or 92 øre. The values of the coin and
paper currencies fluctuated greatly against one another and over issue of the
paper currency led to its steady depreciation.
The currency was reformed in 1855 and the paper Riksdaler and Riksmynt was
introduced and made legal tender. The new currency was divisible into 100 øre.
Both silver and gold coins were minted in the new currency.
In 1875 the Swedish krone replaced the Riksdaler Riksmynt when Norway joined the
Scandinavian Monetary Union which had been establish two years earlier by
Denmark and Sweden.
Scandinavian Monetary Union
The Scandinavian Monetary Union was a monetary union
formed by Denmark and Sweden on 5 May 1873 by fixing the value of their
currencies to where one krone was equal to 0.403 grams of fine gold or
(2,480 Kroner = 1 kilogram of gold), making the value of both nations currencies
at par with one another. Norway entered the union two years later, in 1875 by
pegging the value of its currency to gold at the same level as Sweden and
Denmark.
All three member countries continued to issue their own separate currencies and
the coins of Sweden and Denmark were legal tender in Norway. Banknotes of
one country however were not legal tender in another member's country but due to
the perceived security of this union, many of each member's banknotes circulated
throughout the entire area of the union and were accepted on the basis of "as
good as legal tender".
In 1905 the political union between Norway and Sweden was dissolved, this
however did not affect the monetary union between the three member countries. In
1914, at the outbreak of World War I, Sweden decided to abandon the gold
standard and without a fixed exchange rate the monetary union came to an end.
Norwegian currency today
Still working on it...
Norwegian paper money
Still working on it...
One and Two Kroner Banknotes
Still working on it...
Government in exile issues "London Issues"
Still working on it...
Historical exchange rates
The table below gives the average yearly exchange
rates of the Norwegian krone from 1948 through to 2006. The
rates represented here show the number of Norwegian kroner per U.S. Dollar and
per British pound.
Year | US Dollar (USD) | Br. Pound (GBP) | Year | US Dollar (USD) | Br. Pound (GBP) |
1948 | 1978 | ||||
1949 | 1979 | ||||
1950 | 1980 | ||||
1951 | 1981 | ||||
1952 | 1982 | ||||
1953 | 1983 | ||||
1954 | 1984 | ||||
1955 | 1985 | ||||
1956 | 1986 | ||||
1957 | 1987 | ||||
1958 | 1988 | ||||
1959 | 1989 | ||||
1960 | 1990 | ||||
1961 | 1991 | ||||
1962 | 1992 | ||||
1963 | 1993 | ||||
1964 | 1994 | ||||
1965 | 1995 | ||||
1966 | 1996 | ||||
1967 | 1997 | ||||
1968 | 1998 | ||||
1969 | 1999 | ||||
1970 | 2000 | ||||
1971 | 2001 | ||||
1972 | 2002 | ||||
1973 | 2003 | ||||
1974 | 2004 | ||||
1975 | 2005 | ||||
1976 | 2006 | ||||
1977 | |||||
* Rates from 1948 - 1959 are shown in old francs. |
Related Pages
Svalard and Spitsbergen
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Page created: 1 December 2006
Last Update: 15 February 2007
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