Two different Norway 1941 WW2 Occupation 1 Ore coins question

Discussion in 'World Coins' started by The Eidolon, Oct 9, 2019.

  1. The Eidolon

    The Eidolon Well-Known Member

    Norway 1941 1 Ore Bronze.jpeg Norway 1941 1 Ore Iron.jpeg
    Norway was occupied by the Nazis in mid-1940.

    The following year, they issued two different types of 1 Ore coins: A bronze coin of the existing type with the monogram of King Haakon VII (at that time in exile) and an iron coin of a new type with the symbol of a lion holding an axe from the Norwegian coat of arms.

    What I'm puzzling over is why the Nazi occupation government would have issued a coin under the name of the old king almost a year after the invasion. It's not like occupied Denmark where the king still ruled in place under an occupation government. Haakon VII had fled to the UK and still ruled a government in exile.

    I had wondered if they were just using up some copper blanks of the old type, but the 1941 mintages are much larger than previous years for both types, so it's not just a few leftover coins that might have already been minted.

    A similar dual type situation seems to exist for the 5, 10 and 50 Ore coins for 1941 only. The 2 and 25 Ore have no overlap and the occupation versions were only from 1943-1945 according to Krause. The 1 Krone has a gap in production from 1941-1945 (even though it was not a silver coin at that time).

    Any insights as to why both types were made in 1941 would be greatly appreciated!
     
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  3. Bradley Trotter

    Bradley Trotter Well-Known Member

    If I am not mistaken, they were made for the Norwegian government in exile. Moreover, I believe they would've outsourced the work to the Royal and U.S. Mints who produced coins for numerous allied countries.
     
  4. The Eidolon

    The Eidolon Well-Known Member

  5. The Eidolon

    The Eidolon Well-Known Member

    I've done a little more research and have some guesswork, but nothing definitive. I believe the Nazis hoped the invasion of Norway would proceed similarly to the invasion of Denmark which they started at the same time. Denmark gave up in 1940 without significant resistance, and king Christian X was kept on as a figurehead for the occupation government, with coins issued in his name.

    Norway put up a fight for long enough for the king and government ministers to escape and form a government-in-exile based out of the UK. Norway was helped by its larger size than Denmark, the barrier of the North Sea, and mountainous terrain. Perhaps the Nazis hoped that Haakon VII (Christian's little brother) would also stay on as a figurehead, and didn't expect much resistance. The mint seems to have mostly been left to its own devices, and minted unusually large numbers of the copper 1 and 5 øre and copper-nickel 10 and 50 øre coins using the existing patterns in 1941. The Nazis were probably preoccupied with things like the invasion of France and then Russia, and didn't need to spend a lot of resources micromanaging Norway once it was conquered.

    5 Øre Denmark Zn 1943.jpeg At some point someone (perhaps from the Quisling government) noticed that it was a bad look to issue coins in the name of a king who headed an opposing government-in-exile, and they issued new coins of iron and zinc to 1) save copper and 2) remove any iconography which mentioned the king, such as his "H7" monogram. The new money used general Norwegian symbols rather than fascist iconography, such as the lion with axe from the Norway coat of arms, and the cross with two axes of St. Olaf from the Chrurch of Norway coat of arms. (St. Olaf was said to have been slain by an axe in a battle in 1030 while trying to Christianize and unify Norway, and the axe became a symbol of his martyrdom.)

    Oddly, no 1 krone coins were minted during the war, even though they were had not been made of silver since 1917, and had no special reason to be subjected to wartime hoarding. There's a little more on my personal coin blog.
     
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