The mid-1800s was a tumultuous time in Denmark. There was not one, but two Schleswig-Holstein wars, leading to Denmark’s southern border with Germany moving north. In fact, there is a book titled “Schleswig Holstein: contested region(s) through history”, which details more than a thousand years of such conflicts. My own personal interest in this, is in my family history. It was during this time, my family decided they didn’t want to be German, and would seek out a whole new life on the other side of the world.

This 1856 coin, a 16 Skilling Rigsmønt, was issued under King Frederik VII:

From Wikipedia: “King Frederik VII was King of Denmark from 1848 to 1863. He was the last Danish monarch of the older Royal branch of the House of Oldenburg and the last king of Denmark to rule as an absolute monarch. During his reign, he signed a constitution that established a Danish parliament and made the country a constitutional monarchy. Frederick’s motto was Folkets Kærlighed, min Styrke (Danish for the People’s Love, my Strength).

The legend on this coin is interesting, “FREDERICVS VII | D:G:DANIÆ V:G:REX” which is translated on Numista as: “Frederik VII, by the grace of God, King of Denmark, of the Vandals and the Goths”. This title was simultaneously claimed by Oscar I of Sweden on his 4 Skilling Banco of the same period. The last person to have this one a coin was Frederik IV’s successor, Christian IX.

When I posted about this piece on Mastodon, Thanasis Kinias clarified that he believed “‘Vandalorum’ here refers not to the Vandals (as one might assume) but to the Wends, the Slavic peoples of the Baltic coast”. From Wikipedia: “‘Vandalorum rex’ was a somewhat fanciful early modern Latinization of ‘Venders konung’ (King of the Wends).” Thanks Thanasis!

I do also find this piece interesting because 16 is an unusual denomination. There are other coins worth “16” of one currency or another, but not nearly as many as there are worth “5” or “20”.

This coin was only issued from 1856-1858 and is KM 765.