The exhibition's scope and selection
The exhibition has seven different themes, with overviews and lists
of monetary units, issuing authorities, mints and finds. The content of
this exhibition was selected according to the following guidelines:
Numismatic time travel
The journey backwards in time allows us to witness the history of coins
at several important periods from the Viking Age up to the recent past.
At each stage of the journey, a presentation is given of important historic
events and/or important developments in the history of coins.
Coin finds
The finds are characterised by the categories usually applied to coin
finds: hoards, church finds and stray finds. The finds presented here have
been selected on the basis of a professional evaluation of the documentation
concerning the finds, their geographical location, and the type and content
of the find.
Issuing authorities
All people known to have had issuing authority are listed. Other kings
and archbishops may have issued coins although we have no reliable evidence
of this in our historical sources. Under the name of each individual with
issuing authority you will be given the option of selecting "Coins from
…." which will let you see a tray of coins. For some of the earliest issuing
authorities, all known coin types are shown but, in general, you will see
only a selection of the coins.
Coin types and monetary units
The list of coin types and monetary units on the introductory page
gives an overview of the most important monetary units that have been used
in Norway throughout history. For each monetary unit, more detailed information
is provided including weight, value systems and the issuing authority.
Mints
All mints known to us are presented here. Elsewhere in the exhibition,
in particular where details of numismatic history are given for each issuing
authority, other possible mint sites are mentioned. These unconfirmed sites
are not included in the overview, nor are they discussed individually.
Glossary of technical terms
This glossary explains terms and concepts frequently applied in numismatics
that are used in the text in the various thematic sections of this exhibition.