16 Rigsbankskilling

Norges midlertidige Rigsbank — Norway's temporary state bank — was established in 1814 following the dissolution of the union with Denmark and the scramble to build functioning national institutions from scratch. The 16 Rigsbankskilling denomination is an odd one, reflecting the transitional monetary arithmetic of that period: the Rigsbankdaler was divided into 96 Rigsbankskilling, a base-96 system inherited from Danish currency conventions rather than any clean decimal logic.

The impressed stamp security feature — a dry embossed seal pressed directly into the paper — was a low-technology anti-counterfeiting measure suited to what was still a very young and modestly equipped issuing authority. Printing took place in Christiania, as Norway had no alternative.