Silver coin

The first Krone coin was a 0.800 silver coin issued in 1875. It measured 25mm in diameter and weighed 7.5g. The coin featured King Christian IX of Denmark

Christian IX of Denmark

Christian IX was King of Denmark from 16 November 1863 to 29 January 1906.Growing up as a prince of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a junior branch of the House of Oldenburg which had ruled Denmark since 1448, Christian was originally not in the immediate line of succession to the Danish...

 on its obverse, with the inscription KONGE AF DANMARK (King of Denmark). The reverse featured the coat of arms of Denmark

Coat of arms of Denmark

The royal coat of arms is more complex. The shield is quartered by a silver cross fimbriated in red, derived from the Danish flag, the Dannebrog. The first and fourth quarters represent Denmark by three crowned lions passant accompanied by nine hearts; the second quarter contains two lions passant...

 with the denomination written underneath. The coin was minted until 1898 .

A second silver krone was minted in 1915 and 1916, with King Christian X of Denmark

Christian X of Denmark

Christian X was King of Denmark from 1912 to 1947 and the only King of Iceland between 1918 and 1944....

 on the obverse . It was struck to the same specifications as the previous coin .

Aluminium-bronze coin

In 1924, an aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 krone featuring the crowned monogram of Christian X on the obverse and the crown again on the reverse was introduced, and it was issued until 1941 . It measured 25.5mm in diameter, 1.8mm in thickness and weighed 6.5g .

In 1942 the portrait of the King and his title returned to the obverse, and the reverse featured wheat. This was the first time that a crown (of which the coin's name comes from) had been omitted .

The portrait of Christian X was replaced by that of the new King Frederick IX of Denmark

Frederick IX of Denmark

Frederick IX was King of Denmark from 20 April 1947 until his death on 14 January 1972....

 in 1947. The crown returned, above the Danish coat of arms .

Cupro-nickel coin

A cupro-nickel version of the same design as the last aluminium-bronze coin was introduced in 1960 . Its weight increased to 6.8g . In 1973, the portrait on the coin was changed to the new Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. Her inscription was MARGRETHE II DANMARKS DRONNING (Margrethe II Denmark's Queen). The reverse remained the same.

The present-day design of the coin was first minted in 1992 and introduced into circulation on 26 January 1993 . The Queen's monogram and the crown decorate the obverse in a pattern around a central hole , and the reverse is based on pre-historic Danish art. From 2000 onwards, the mintmarks on the obverse have been permanently removed .