Norway Coins 5 Kroner 1995 Norwegian Coinage Anniversary
Commemorative issue: 1000 years of Norwegian coinage
This Norwegian commemorative coin of 5 kroner from 1995 commemorates the millenium of minting the oldest Norwegian coin - penning of King Olav I Tryggvason from AD 995. (Only known type of coin of Olaf Tryggvason, in four known specimens. Imitation of the Crux-type coin of Æthelred the Unready.)Obverse: Effigy of King Harald V facing right.
Lettering: HARALD V · NORGES KONGE IAR.
Engraver: Ingrid Austlid Rise (initials IAR under king's head on the obverse).
Mint: Den Kongelige Mynt (The Royal Mint), Kongsberg (mint mark on the bottom of the obverse; on the bottom of the reverse initials JJE of the mint's chief Jan Erik Johansen).
Reverse: above the centre a penning of King of Norway Olav I divides the face value: 5 / KR (KRONER); below the coin in two lines: NORSK MYNT / I TUSEN ÅR (thousand years of Norwegian coin); on the bottom year of issue: 1995.
Lettering: 5 KR NORSK MYNT I TUSEN ÅR 1995 JEJ.
Engraver: Ingrid Austlid Rise.
Edge: Plain.
Value: 5 Kroner (5 NOK).
Composition: Copper-Nickel.
Weight: 11.5 g.
Diameter: 29.5 mm.
Thickness: 2.23 mm.
Shape: Round.
King Harald V of Norway
Harald V (born 21 February 1937) is the King of Norway. He succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father Olav V on 17 January 1991. The son of the then-Crown Prince Olav and of Princess Märtha of Sweden, Harald was born at the Crown Prince Residence at Skaugum, Akershus, Norway.
A member of the House of Glücksburg, a house originally from Northern Germany, Harald became the first Norwegian-born prince since Olav IV, who was born in 1370. Harald V is the formal head of the Church of Norway and the Norwegian Armed Forces. He has two children, Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Märtha Louise.
He is closely related to other European monarchs. He is the first cousin once removed of King Philippe of Belgium and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, the second cousin of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and the second cousin once removed of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
In 2015, he became the world's first reigning monarch to visit Antarctica, specifically the Norwegian dependency Queen Maud Land.
King Olaf Tryggvason
Olaf Tryggvason (960s – 1000) was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken (Vingulmark, and Rånrike), and, according to later sagas, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, first King of Norway.
Olaf played an important part in the conversion of the Norse to Christianity. He is said to have built the first church in Norway (in 995) and to have founded the city of Trondheim (in 997). A statue of Olaf Tryggvason is located in the city's central plaza.
Historical information about Olaf is sparse. He is mentioned in some contemporary English sources, and some skaldic poems. The oldest narrative source mentioning him briefly is Adam of Bremen's Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (c. 1070). In the 1190s, two sagas of Olaf Tryggvason were written in Iceland, by Oddr Snorrason and Gunnlaugr Leifsson. Snorri Sturluson gives an extensive account of Olaf in the Heimskringla saga, (c. 1230), using Oddr Snorrason's saga as his main source. The accuracy of these late sources is not taken at face value by modern historians and their validity is a topic of some debate.[6] The following account is mainly based on the late saga sources.