A coin referring to some old legends, from one of the younger landmasses.

Iceland is an island nation 280km (170 mi) off the coast of Greenland towards Scotland. The country lies where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet, which is what causes a lot of its geologic activity. Despite this, the country is considered to be in the continent of Europe, not North America, although it’s neighbour, Greenland, IS considered part of North America.

Iceland first began to form as recently as between 70 million years ago and 20 million years ago. A large magma pocket sits beneath the island and is thought to have been the catalyst that started this process. The underwater eruptions which formed the island, can still be encountered with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions today.  The island of Surtsey was created from 1963 to 1967 due to underwater volcanic eruptions. The Catalog of Icelandic Volcanoes tracks 32 main active volcanic systems across the country which boasts over 200 different volcanoes, geysers, and volcanic fissures overall.

The Greek explorer Pytheas, documented his travels in 330 BC mentions the island of Thule. Some have speculated this may have referred to Iceland. However, this is merely a guess.

Iceland’s earliest settlers can be traced back to the Landnamabok, or the Book of Settlements. This five-part medieval manuscript tells the story of the Norsemen discovering and settling the country in the 9th and 10th centuries.

Landnamabok describes Irish monks, known as “the Papar,” as the first inhabitants of Iceland, having left behind books, crosses, and bells for the Norse to later discover.

A Scandinavian sailor, Floki Vilgeroarson, gave Iceland its name after he spotted some drift ice in the fjords during a ferocious winter. Despite this, Iceland is largely a green country, while Greenland, is mostly covered in ice. Iceland is believed to have been originally around 40% covered in birch forests. Once settlers arrived, they consumed the wood building ships, houses and farmsteads, and burnt other trees for warmth. This deforestation took roughly a century and has created soil arability problems which persist today. Until the 14th century, traditional Viking longhouses, or Icelandic turf houses, were built out of sod.

Iceland is the world’s oldest parliamentary democracy, with the Parliament, the Althingi, established in 930. The country became a Norwegian province in the 1262-64. As a dependency of Norway, Iceland came under the Danish-Norwegian Crown in 1380 and was in reality a Danish dependency from 1660. Iceland became fully independent in 1944.

Obverse

The obverse of the coin features the “Icelandic coat of arms surrounded by the four traditional protector spirits (“Landvættir”) of Iceland. These are Griðungur the bull, Gammur the eagle, Dreki the dragon, and Bergrisi the giant.”

These spirits were described in Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson, in the 13th century. This chronicles of the Kings of Norway (which you can read in English on Project Gutenberg) was originally published in 1225.

The Icelandic coat of arms is a silver cross in a sky-blue field, with a bright red cross inside the silver cross.

Reverse

The reverse features the “Face value at the center and leaves of pubescent birch (Betula pubescens, only endemic tree of Iceland), to left and right”. The country name, “ÍSLAND” is above in Icelandic, and the value is centre and below (1 KRÓNA).

Iceland uses the “Króna”. 100 Eyrir = 1 Króna. Issues from 1885 – 1980 are known as the “Old Króna”, while everything newer is the “New Króna”. In 1981, Iceland revalued the Króna. At the time, they introduced a new 500 ISK banknote and revalued the circulating currency so that 1 króna (new) equalled 100 krónur (old). More banknotes followed, with the largest—10,000 ISK—arriving in 2013. In late January 2025, 1 Euro is worth around 145 Icelandic Króna.

What is your favourite coin with a coat of arms on it? I do like some of Iceland’s, and I’ve always liked Peru’s as well. Let us know your favourite!