Country / Region: Faroe Islands
Continent: Europe

Denomination: 1,000 Krónur

Year: 2004

Grade: Uncirculated

Face Value (as at 2013.03.15): about USD167.83

Pick: 28

Figure (Obverse): Purple Sandpiper by Zacharias Heinsen

Figure (Reverse): A view from the Island of Sandoy by Zacharias Heinsen

Story: First post ever on this blog. Let’s start with a big entrance.

This is the highest denomination available from Faroe Islands. A lot of my friends are not even aware of the existence of this small and beautiful island, including myself(!) until I started to look into banknotes more seriously a few years ago. If we draw a triangle linking up Iceland, the northern tip of UK and the eastern tip of Norway, Faroe Islands would be pinpointed somewhere there between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean.

With a population of less than 50,000, Faroese can pride themselves for owning one of the best designed banknotes in the world. These banknotes do not have the usual white edges, which I think adds to the overall impression that this is a painting rather than a banknote. I particularly like how the Purple Sandpiper is “fading away into the background”,a genuine artistic touch.

Not an easy task to take hold of this splendid note, especially for those of us living in NEA.

Interesting Fact: The entire set of banknotes features watercolor paintings by Zacharias Heinesen. According to Wikipedia, he is a Faroese landscape painter born in 1936 in Tórshavn. Incidentally, his artworks are also featured in a set of beautiful stamps issued in June 2001.

Being a small self-governing dependency of Denmark, the Faroese Kronur is pegged 1:1 with DKK.