THE COINS OF

THE FREE CITY OF CHRISTIANIA

(est. 1971)

FRISTADEN CHRISTIANIA

1976-2006 - complete listings

Updated February 5^th, 2007

The Commune:

The Free City of Christiania is a democratic commune in Copenhagen, Denmark, founded in September 26^th, 1971 as an alternative society, an offspring of the Danish counter-cultural movement and the student uprisings of the 1960s. The community appropriated some abandoned navy barracks in Christianshavn and thus began an anarchistic social experiment that has now successfully lasted more than 35 years.

The Coinage:

From 1976 onwards, a limited amount of “Fed” (fat, 1 gram) coins and a lone “Klump” (lump) coin, (whose nicknames/values allude to portions/quantities of hashish, the personal use of which is semi-legal within the Free City) have been minted. These began as an experiment by Vagn Sorento Dichmann, but were met enthusiastically and have been continued as a yearly tradition, reflecting in their design events that have occurred in the last year.

Based on the success of the Fed coins, in December 1997 a new economic experiment was started in Christiania; a local currency called the Løn (Wage) was introduced, valued at 50 Danish Krones. The local currency is accepted by everyone in the Free State - by bars, restaurants, shops, artisans and the Christiania exchequer. The coins are issued by the Coin Group, a unit within the Free State "government", which initially uses them to pay the wages of Free State employees. After circulating within the local economy, coins are eventually returned to the Coin Group by enterprises or individuals who wish to exchange them for Danish kroner. Both the Fed coins and the Løn are highly sought after by collectors in Denmark and elsewhere.

Why this page?

In 2004, I got tired of waiting for a new Christiania catalogue to appear, and after having heard about the plans for such a catalogue for more than three years, but never having seen any concrete results, I decided not to wait any longer and make my own list, based on the coins I then had in my own collection. After lots of email correspondence and (some) hard work, I made a comprehensive list of all the coins of Christiania up until 2004, as far as I knew of their existence.

Since my original list, there have been quite a few additions, so I decided to keep the page going, even though MOST of the types are now listed in Bruce’s Unusual World Coins catalogue 4^th edition (the reason they’re only partially listed is my mistake, I didn’t know about the existence of many types, when I originally made the list for Colin Bruce… I hope the info will be rectified with the 5^th edition…)

The information on types, varieties & mintages plus the background info I have is based on my correspondence with Vagn Sorento Dichmann (alias “Sorento”, the talented designer of the Fed coins), Ditlev Nissen (contact for Utopiske Horisonter, who’s also my ever friendly contact in Christiania), Stig Erenbjerg (a fellow enthusiast & numismatist) & on the info from an article (in Danish) by Vagn Jensen. My utmost thanks go to these four gentlemen!

If you're looking for Christiania coins yourselves, your best bet would be to contact Vagn Sorento Dichmann (for "Fed" issues) or Ditlev Nissen (for "Løn" issues) directly. Their emails are on Erik McCrea's "links" page, underneath on this page. (LINKS)

Good coin hunting,

Chaim Shiboleth

If you have coins (or scans) other than those on my list, please write me, so that we may make this list complete. If you have additional information on mintages etc., I will be happy to incorporate it in my next list.

If you want to send me scans, please send these in GIF-format 150x150 pixels or as JPEG 300dpi scans.

e-mail: *

I have numbered the coins to make future reference easier:

F-numbers are Feds

K-numbers are Klumps

L-numbers are Løns

M-numbers are Medallic/exonumia

FED ISSUES

DESCRIPTION	SCAN
CHR-F-01 (pipe / snake) Year: 1976 Metal: silver Diameter: 28 mm Edge: plain Weight (est.): 10.5 grams Mintage: unknown (<200)
CHR-F-02a (yin-yang / flower) Year: 1977 Metal: copper Diameter: 31 mm Edge: plain Weight (est.): 10 grams Mintage: 200
CHR-F-02b (yin-yang / flower) Year: 1977 Metal: silver Diameter: 31 mm Edge: plain Weight (est.): 11 grams Mintage: 200 Two varieties exist, one with thick flan (1.5mm) & one with thin flan (0.8 mm)
CHR-F-03 (uniface pattern, 10th anniv.; no denomination on coin) Year: 1981 Metal: silver Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain Weight (est.): 11.5 grams Mintage: unknown (<100), pattern
CHR-F-04a (uniface pattern, Carnival; no denomination on coin) Year: 1984 Metal: copper Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain Weight (est.): 10.5 grams Mintage: unknown (<100)
CHR-F-04b (uniface pattern, Carnival; no denomination on coin) Year: 1984 Metal: silver Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain Weight (est.): 10.5 grams Mintage: unknown (<100)
CHR-F-05 (uniface pattern, Punk; no denomination on coin) Year: 1984 Metal: silver Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain Weight (est.): 12 grams Mintage: unknown (<100), pattern Two varieties exist, one with blank reverse & one stamped 925 on reverse.
CHR-F-06 (Dancing coin) Year: 1985 Metal: silver Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain Weight (est.): 10.5 grams Mintage: 200
CHR-F-07a (Bogart coin) Year: 1988 Metal: copper Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain Weight (est.): 10 grams Mintage: 200
CHR-F-07b (Bogart coin) Year: 1988 Metal: silver Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain Weight (est.): 10.5 grams Mintage: 200
CHR-F-07c (Bogart coin) Year: 1988 Metal: brass Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain Weight (est.): 10 grams Mintage: reported, not confirmed
CHR-F-08 (Dragon under hemp) Year: 1993 Metal: silver Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain Weight (est.): 13.5 grams Mintage: 200
CHR-F-99 (PRØVE/ test coin) Year: 1996 Metal: unknown Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain Weight (est.): unknown Mintage: reported, not confirmed
CHR-F-09a (Swimming dragon) Year: 1997 Metal: brass Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain, edge numbered Weight (est.): 11 grams Mintage: 200 09a.1 variety: edge marked E.T. (Eget Tryk) 15 pcs., mintage included above
CHR-F-09b (Swimming dragon) Year: 1997 Metal: silver Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain, edge numbered Weight (est.): 10 grams Mintage: 200 09b.1 variety: edge marked E.T. (Eget Tryk) 15 pcs., mintage included above
CHR-F-09c (Swimming dragon) Year: 1997 Metal: gold 22k Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain, edge marked Weight (est.): unknown Mintage: unknown
CHR-F-10a (3 entwined dragons) Year: 1998 Metal: copper Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain, edge numbered Weight (est.): 11.5 grams Mintage: 200 010a.1 variety: edge marked E.T. (Eget Tryk) 15 pcs., mintage included above
CHR-F-10b (3 Entwined dragons) Year: 1998 Metal: silver Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain, edge numbered Weight (est.): 13.5 grams Mintage: 200 010b.1 variety: edge marked E.T. (Eget Tryk) 15 pcs., mintage included above
CHR-F-10c (3 Entwined dragons) Year: 1998 Metal: gold 22k Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain, edge marked Weight (est.): unknown Mintage: unknown
CHR-F-11a (Dove) Year: 1999 Metal: copper Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain, edge numbered Weight (est.): 11.5 grams Mintage: 200 011a.1 variety: edge marked E.T. (Eget Tryk) 15 pcs., mintage included above
CHR-F-11b (Dove) Year: 1999 Metal: silver Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain, edge numbered Weight (est.): 13.5 grams Mintage: 200 011b.1 variety: edge marked E.T. (Eget Tryk) 15 pcs., mintage included above
CHR-F-11c (Dove) Year: 1999 Metal: gold 22k Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain, edge marked Weight (est.): unknown Mintage: unknown
CHR-F-12a (Millenium dragon) Year: 2000 Metal: copper Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain, edge numbered Weight (est.): 11.5 grams Mintage: 200 012a.1 variety: edge marked E.T. (Eget Tryk) 15 pcs., mintage included above
CHR-F-12b (Millenium dragon) Year: 2000 Metal: silver Diameter: 30 mm Edge: plain, edge numbered Weight (est.): 13.5 grams Mintage: 200