Top
header Notes Collection

5 Kronor 1923, Reminder, Svalbard, Sweden

no number in katalog -
Years of issue: 1923 - 1925
Edition:
Signatures: Unknown signature
Serie: Svalbard
Specimen of: 1917
Material: Paper
Size (mm): 130 х 90
Printer: Unknown printer

* All pictures marked magnify are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.

** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.

5 Kronor 1923, Reminder, Svalbard

Description

Watermark:

Avers:

5 Kronor 1923, Reminder, Svalbard

Inscription on banknote: "Anvisning a innestaende lon.

Svenska Stenkolsaktiebolaget Spetsbergen utlämnar mot denna anvisning, vid Sveagruvan a Spetsbergen under nedan angivna säsong, varor för ett belop av 5 kronor. Oinlösta anvisningar skola vid innehavarens vresa fran Spetsbergen, och senast vid säsongens slut, avlämnas a gruvkontoret, varvid belopped gottgöres i slutlikvid. Anvisninger är ogiltig utanfor Spetsbergen och efter säsongens slut."

In English: "Instruction of the outstanding salary. Svenska Stenkolsaktiebolaget Spetsbergen submits against this instruction, at Sveagruvan a Spitsbergen during the season specified below, goods for an amount of SEK 5.

Unredeemed instructions must be handed in at the holder's office from Spitsbergen, and at the latest at the end of the season, at the mining office, whereby the amount is reimbursed in the final payment. Instructions are invalid outside Spitsbergen and after the end of the season."

Around 1920, mining flourished in Svea, when up to six hundred workers were employed, many on two- or three-year contracts. The mine's high - quality coal was considered so important for Sweden's economic independence that in 1921, through a reconstruction of AB Spetsbergen's Swedish coal field, the new company Svenska Stenkolsaktiebolaget Spetsbergen, with a share capital of SEK 5 million, in which the Swedish state had a majority. By this time, mining had increased from 3,500 tons in 1916–1917 to 52,000 tons in 1920-1921. In the year 1924-1925, as much as 116,000 tonnes were mined. In 1924, a total of 420,000 tonnes of coal were exported by the six different mining companies operating in Spitsbergen, where the others were operated by Norwegian, English, Dutch and Russian companies.

The main buyer of coal from Svea was Statens Järnvägar, but with the increased electrification of the railway, the need decreased. At the same time, international coal prices fell, which affected wages. Criticism of the state's involvement in Svea was harsh, and a closure of the mine was debated. On May 12, 1925, a large fire broke out in the mine which put an end to the entire operation. In 1926, the company went into liquidation, but it was reconstructed two years later under the name New Swedish Coal Company Spetsbergen, where the Swedish state was almost the sole partner. The business was limited to security and repair work, until Svea on March 14, 1934 was sold to the Norwegian coal company Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani A/S for one million kronor. The decision was hammered through in Sweden's Riksdag with a majority of one vote.

Few remains from the time with Spetsbergen's Swedish coal field remain in Svea. In August 1944, the crew of the German submarine U-307 destroyed most of the barracks and other buildings. Even today, however, foundations, a cable car station and a number of mining estates remain.

Revers:

5 Kronor 1923, Reminder, Svalbard

White background. Uniface.

Comments:

Remainder - The remaining banknote is a banknote prepared for issue, but not issued for one reason or another, for example, due to the failure of the banknote issuer or the merger of one banknote issuer with another.

In this case, the reason was the liquidation of the company in 1926.