World coins chat: Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands are an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark located in the Norwegian Sea roughly between Scotland and Iceland. The rugged subpolar archipelago has a population of 49,000. They speak Faroese, which is close to Icelandic and more distantly related to Norwegian and Danish.


Flag of the Faroe Islands, which is a variation on the colours and themes of the Norwegian and Icelandic flags.

History
The Danish name for the islands is Færøerne which is believed to mean 'sheep islands'. The 'øer' in the word means islands, so for Faroese it sounds strange that the word 'islands' is often added to the country's name as for them it is already in there. The local name in the Faroese language is Føroyar.


Location of the Faroe Islands in the Norwegian Sea

The name might be based on a 6th century story from an Irish monk who described beautiful green islands full of birds and sheep, but it is uncertain if that story was actually based on the Faroe Islands. Norsemen started setteling the islands around 900 AD, and it officially became part of the Kingdom of Norway in 1035. Denmark and Norway were in personal union from 1380 until 1814, when mainland Norway unified with Sweden and Denmark inherited the formerly Norse overseas territories of Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

During World War 2 the Faroe Islands were pre-emptively occupied by the British after Germany invaded Denmark. After the war the archipelago tried to become independent but instead was granted self-rule in 1948. Despite its isolated geographical location, it has since enjoyed quite a bit of prosperity due to favourable taxes and revenues from natural gas.

Currency and coins
The Faroese Islands use and have always used the Danish Krone or its predecessors before 1873. However, as small change was often scarce on the island, several privately issued coins were minted and circulated on the islands in the 19th and early 20th century.

During World War 2 the British minted Danish coin designs without mint and privy marks for exclusive use on the Faroe Islands. These Faroese issues from 1941 were not backed by Denmark which was occupied by Germany, but instead linked to the pre-war exchange rate between Kroner and Sterling which had been equal to 22.4Kr/£ since 1933. Older Danish banknotes were overstamped so that they became Faroese.

After the war the Faroese Krone was made equal to the Danish Krone again, but separate banknotes remained to be printed by the Danish national bank. Currently the Faroe Islands use regular Danish coins and Faroese banknotes, but Danish banknotes can also be used on the archipelago.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/feroe-1.html

jokinen I do enjoy reading your work, thank you

Quote: "ALLRED1950"​jokinen I do enjoy reading your work, thank you
​

​Thank you Daryl. These kind acknowledgements keep me going :-)

"During World War 2 the British minted Danish coin designs without mint and privy marks for exclusive use on the Faroe Islands. These Faroese issues from 1941 were not backed by Denmark which was occupied by Germany, but instead linked to the pre-war exchange rate between Kroner and Sterling which had been equal to 22.4Kr/£ since 1933. Older Danish banknotes were overstamped so that they became Faroese."

Can you show examples of the Faroese issues and the Denmark issues, so people can see the difference? I think that would help people looking for these rare coins find them easier and not buy Denmark issues by mistake.
Thanks,
John

As jokinen has mentioned above, Faroe Islands coins issued in 1941 have the same design as regular Denmark coins from that period, but do not carry the ❤ N mint mark.

Here, we have a Faroe Islands coin on the left and a regular issue Denmark coin on the right (images are from the Numista catalog):


All coins in that issue have a hole in the center, so if you see a Danish coin without a hole, you can be sure it's not a Faroe Islands issue.

Note that Denmark did strike a 10 Øre coin dated 1941, so be mindful of possible fakes, which had the mint mark polished off.

Danish coin with heart above date (mint mark) and privy marks left and right of country name:


And now the Faroese example dated 1941 (Danish coins from 1941 are all made of zinc or aluminium, not bronze or copper-nickel).

Now we don't see the heart above date nor the privy marks.

I guess it's important to scan bulk lots of Danish coins very well because maybe one day you get lucky.

That answer was a bit redundant :-)

Thanks Ham!