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Norwegian rigsdaler

former Norwegian currency

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ3935769
Source-derived summary

The rigsdaler specie was a unit of silver currency used in Norway from 1544, renamed as the speciedaler in 1816 and used until 1873. Norway used a common reichsthaler currency system shared with Denmark, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein until 1873 when the gold standard was implemented in Scandinavia and the German Empire.

Rigsdaler specie

The reichsthaler currency system used in Northern Europe until 1873 consisted of the silver Reichsthaler specie (Rigsdaler specie) worth 120 skillings in Norway and Denmark, and the lower-valued Rigsdaler courant worth 4⁄5th of specie or 96 skillings (both units worth 60 and 48 schellingen, respectively, in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein). The Hamburg Bank equated 91⁄4 reichsthalers specie to a Cologne Mark of fine silver, hence 25.28 g silver in a rigsdaler specie.

Coins

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, coins were issued in denominations of 1, 2, 4, 8 and 24 skilling, 1⁄15, 1⁄5, 1⁄3, 1⁄2, 2⁄3 and 1 rigsdaler specie.

Banknotes

In 1695, government notes were issued for 10, 20, 25, 50 and 100 rigsdaler (spelt rixdaler). In 1807, notes were reintroduced by the government, in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 100 rigsdaler courant, with 12 skilling notes added in 1810. In 1813, Rigsbankens Norske Avdeling began issuing notes. in denominations of 1, 5, 50, and 100 Rigsbankdaler. Subsequent series were issued by Norges Midlertidige Rigsbank (1814), Stattholderbevis (1815), and Norges Bank (1817–22 to the present).

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Norwegian rigsdaler” is former Norwegian currency. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Norwegian, rigsdaler and former, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1544, 1816, 1873, 1695—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Norwegian, rigsdaler and former is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “former Norwegian currency” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3935769. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1544, 1816, 1873 and 1695.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Norwegian rigsdaler” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.