Norway’s Central Bank Declines to Mint Coin for Army’s 400th Anniversary

Norway’s central bank has rejected a request from the commander of the Army to issue a commemorative coin marking the 400th anniversary of the Norwegian Army in 2028.

The decision was reported by NRK, citing a letter sent by the central bank to the country’s armed forces.

The military leadership submitted the request to mint the anniversary coin in November last year.

The central bank said the request was denied because of a change in its guidelines, adopted in March this year, to discontinue the issuance of circulation coins with special commemorative designs.

As a result of the updated policy, the regulator formally rejected the military’s request for a commemorative coin marking the Army’s 400th anniversary in 2028.

The tradition of minting commemorative coins to mark significant anniversaries of the Norwegian Army dates back many years. In 1978, for example, the Central Bank of Norway issued a special 5-kroner silver coin to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Army’s founding.

The Norwegian Army traces its official history to 1628, when the Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV issued a decree establishing a national army. The new force was built on local peasant militias, which were required to provide and equip recruits for the defense of Norwegian territory.