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 Replies: 16 / Views: 12,636 |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2882 Posts |
Hi, I have a couple of coins from this country - named by Leif Eriksson and his fantastic tourist speak. They are in quite nice condition. The 25 Ore  and the 1 Krone  - There arn't that many coins issued by Greenland so gathering them all up is not impossible - though they can be slightly scarce. It's a series I keep meaning to try and finish, though I'm not looking forward to forking out for the 5 Kroner - it's rather pricy Edited by Bacchus2
02/08/2011 08:27 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
It was a lot more green when they named it than it is today (from Wikipedia): Quote:
Interpretation of ice core and clam shell data suggests that between 800 and 1300 CE the regions around the fjords of southern Greenland experienced a relatively mild climate several degrees Celsius higher than usual in the North Atlantic,[12] with trees and herbaceous plants growing and livestock being farmed. Barley was grown as a crop up to the 70th degree.[13] |
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1064 Posts |
I certainly don;t have any Greenland coins. Should try and get some, but they do not seem to appear anywhere, if you're not looking, that is.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Those are nice examples Bacchus!  Both of your coins were minted in Copenhagen, when Greenland was under direct admin by Denmark. It appears the last issues of Greenland coins were 1979--do they use Danish money now?  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United Kingdom
2882 Posts |
Thanks for the info DVcollector. I think the Greenlanders still use the Danish currency for day to day transactions - though I do recall reading about how they might be more autonomous recently so might feel inclined to issue something themselves.
Augsburger - yes, I think they are scarce coins to find - not really rare but you do have to look for them.
KenKat, yes I was aware that during the warm spell of about 1000 years ago the climate allowed for better agriculture in the northern areas - just look at the cultures in the Orkneys and the Hebrides that have been unearthed at the time. I do know however that Leif called Greenland ... Greenland to encourage people to go and colonise it - he probably wouldn't have been so sucessful if he had called it "mostly glaciers but there is a little bit of green that you can cultivate-land" :)
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
those early explorers have a fair bit to answer for.
There is a place in New Zealand, which has beautiful beaches, but it was named in 1642 by Abel TASMAN, after a sad incident there - "Murderers Bay".
three hundred years later, the Mayor and a few locals decided to get some tourism going. It was renamed "Adventure Bay", and is now booming ...
Peter in Oz
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Moderator
 United States
16679 Posts |
My fiance's parents are both from Denmark. Flying over Greenland on the way there, It is nothing but white ice and snow! I mean, it is a huge country!
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Pillar of the Community
Philippines
1156 Posts |
I can see on the coin the bears in 1926 are fatter more massive, today looking at bears in natgeo, they appear to have less fat
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Nic, greener times I guess!  Vermontensium--I've flown over a few times as well; that place looks so forbidding and cold at 30,000 ft. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2838 Posts |
Nice coins from an interesting place.
Like vermontensium I flew over Greenland when visiting my sister in Canada and it was almost completely impossible to see any habitation. Would love to go there as all I saw from the plane was a single light in about 2 hours.
Its a very interesting place geologically - as the ice is melting islands are being discovered that were once thought to be part of the mainland (as they were mostly covered by the icecap) and the whole landmass is rising / tilting as the huge ice weight melts.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2838 Posts |
Forgot to add - I thought it was Leif's farther 'Eric the Red' who named it, I though Leif named North America 'Vinland'?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Quote:
I though Leif named North America 'Vinland'? There is a confirmed Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, inhabited about 1000 years ago, which may be Vinland (Wine-land). |
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Pillar of the Community
Philippines
1156 Posts |
copy DV its greenland I always got confused in high school whenever it came to iceland and greenland, its so easy to get it reversed  |
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1238 Posts |
Quote:
I think the Greenlanders still use the Danish currency for day to day transactions - though I do recall reading about how they might be more autonomous recently so might feel inclined to issue something themselves. Right, Greenland has a higher degree of autonomy these days (since mid-2009). But unlike the Faroe Islands (those have specific paper money designs), Greenland does not have any special cash - they just use what is used in Denmark. There were plans in 2006 to issue a series of Greenlandic notes (again, not coins) but that idea was given up a while ago. In 2008, the designer Naja Abelsen felt underpaid and stopped working on the designs. Then Miki Jacobsen was supposed to continue, but last year the Parliament of Greenland decided to postpone the entire plan ... Christian |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2605 Posts |
... but that did not stop people from issuing fantasy Greenland coins. (Images are borrowed from Joelscoins)   For the record, I am not considering getting these fantasy "patterns", but would love to get my hands on the ones Bacchus showed! |
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1238 Posts |
Since there have never been any plans to issue Greenland-specific coins (the project was about notes only), those fantasy pieces are ... precisely that. :) Those "colonial" issues - Greenland basically had the status of a colony between 1925 and 1953 - are not awfully expensive. As Bacchus2 wrote, the pricy one is the 5 kroner piece: While the others were minted in Copenhagen/DK (dated 1926), the 5 kr was minted in Philadelphia/US (dated 1944). Some other interesting Greenland-related pieces are the one issued by mining companies about 100 years ago ... http://www.muenzauktion.com/haubenw...pic/1241.jpghttp://www.muenzauktion.com/haubenw...pic/3087.jpg(Image: ma-shops/Haubenwallner) ... and the 2 Danish 2 kroner coin issued in 1953: http://www.muenzauktion.com/wehling/pic/280.jpg(Image: ma-shops/Wehling) Also, the 2007-2009 International Polar Year was commemorated on Danish coins in those three years. The coins show a polar bear, a ship below a map of Greenland, and a polar light above minerals. And the three gold issues were minted using gold from a mine near Nanortalik, Greenland ... Christian |
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Replies: 16 / Views: 12,636 |
Posted 02/08/2011 11:51 am
