Moneta
Registered: August 2005
Location: Arizona USA
Posts: 2,373
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GREENLAND: Danish Colony, 10 Kroner (11.75g), 1922 (1926), KM-Tn49, Ivigtut Cryolite Mining & Trading Co. issue, one-year type, variety with reeded edge, XF, ex Dr. Wolfgang Schuster Collection.
Central design of a seated polar bear facing left; inside a shield which has a winged miner's helmet on top, a hammer and tool on left, a spade and pick axe on right. OB legend: KRYOLITH*MINE OG HANDELS*SELSKABET
10 KR∙ (The Cryolite Mining and Trading Company). Danish Royal Mint (Den Kongelige Mønt), Copenhagen, Denmark. Actually struck in 1926 with 1922 dies. Ivigtut is the only locality outside of Siberia which is known to produce the mineral kryolite (or kryolith) used in the manufacture of aluminium.
After WWI the use of aluminum exploded and cryolite is an essential component of its manufacture. Ivigtuut a operated a company town where Danes and locals could stay during the season open-pit mining operation. The town was isolated and could only be reached by sea in the summer months and by plane. When the U.S. Army attempted the first the first air circumnavigation of the world the two biplanes (Chicago & New Orleans) stopped there in order to replace their engines. During WWII the USA took control of Greenland because the Germans had occupied the Denmark proper. Active mining continued into the 1960's with stockpiles exhausted in 1987
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