The last cypher-only coin

When researching King Charles III’s coronation medallion recently, I explored how Monograms have letters which form part of each other, where Cyphers (or ciphers) have letters which could be separated. The O and V on this coin could be separated, so I would have called it a cypher, despite what the Krause Standard Catalog, NGC & every other reference I found will tell you. In fairness, even the Royal Court of Norway calls it a monogram, so who am I to argue. In common usage the terms are often used interchangeably. In fact, looking back at Coin of Note Newsletter #2 in which this coin was the “What is it” coin – I even called it a monogram, so don’t mind me!

What I actually wanted to highlight in this post is that this is the last circulating coin to feature ONLY such a design on one side. The coin was produced from 1959-1973, with a combined mintage over 223 million, across those 15 years. The initials on the coin, O and V belong to King Olav V of Norway. Olav V ascended the throne on 21st September 1957, and ruled for 33 Years until his passing on 17th January 1991.

All of the pertinent information about the coin, such as the value (10 Øre), the Norwegian country name (“Norge”), and the year (1962), is on the other side. The crossed hammers which divide the date are the mintmark of The Royal Norwegian Mint. Above all of that, is a bee

Special mention to Denmark and Sweden who have later coins prominently featuring a monogram or cypher, but in both cases, they feature other details, such as the year (Pictured 2014 Danish 5 Kroner and 1985 Swedish 5 Kronor):

Back to Norway, and let’s talk about bees!

Each of the seven coins in the 1959 – 1972 series features an animal. WorldOfCoins.eu have a thread on this series, noting that it was the first time since the 1928 “Barnyard” set from Ireland with an entire circulating set devoted to featuring wildlife. That page also features images of the coins and many of the depicted animals.

Daniel’s Coin Zoo also features this coin. Daniel notes that there are many beekeepers in Scandinavia and there is archaeological evidence of honey bees in southern Norway around 1200 AD. The bee pictured on the coin may be a European Dark Bee, also known as a Nordic Brown Bee.