50 Ore    (sold for $27.0)

1898, Kingdom of Norway, Oscar II. Silver 50 Ore Coin. Corroded F-VF!

Mint Year: 1898 Denomination: 50 Ore Mint Place: Kongsberg Reference: KM-357 ($150 in VF). Condition: Moderate corrosion in obverse, scratches, otherwise F-VF! Material: Silver (.800) Diameter: 22mm Weight: 4.85gm

Obverse: Head of Oscar II as King of Sweden and Norway left. Legend: OSCAR II NORGES o. SVER. KONGE * BRODERFOLKENES VEL * Reverse:  Crowned shield of Norway within oak-wreath. Date (1898) split by mint  makr of Kongsberg (crossed hammers) below. Legend: 50 ORE / 18 (crossed hammers) 98

  Bid with  confidence!

Oscar II (21 January 1829 – 8 December 1907), born  Oscar Frederik was King of Norway from 1872  until 1905 and King of Sweden from 1872 until his death. The third son  of King Oscar I of Sweden and Josephine of Leuchtenberg, he was a  descendant of Gustav I of Sweden through his mother.

Himself a distinguished writer and musical amateur,  King Oscar proved a generous friend of learning, and did much to  encourage the development of education throughout his dominions. In 1858  a collection of his lyrical and narrative poems, Memorials of the  Swedish Fleet, published anonymously, obtained the second prize of the  Swedish Academy. His "Contributions to the Military History of Sweden in  the Years 1711, 1712, 1713," originally appeared in the Annals of the  Academy, and were printed separately in 1865. His works, which included  his speeches, translations of Herder's Cid and Goethe's Torquato Tasso,  and a play, Castle Cronberg, were collected in two volumes in  1875–1876, and a larger edition, in three volumes, appeared in  1885–1888. His Easter hymn and some other of his poems are familiar  throughout the Scandinavian countries. His Memoirs of Charles XII of  Sweden were translated into English in 1879. In 1881 he founded the  World's first open-air museum at his summer residence near Christiania,  now Oslo. In 1885 he published his Address to the Academy of Music, and a  translation of one of his essays on music appeared in Literature in May  1900. He had a valuable collection of printed and MS. music, which was  readily accessible to the historical student of music.

Also being a theater lover, Oscar II told Henrik  Ibsen that his Ghosts was "not a good play". As he  was dying, he requested that the theatres not be closed on account of  his death. His wishes were respected.

King Oscar II was an enthusiast of Arctic  exploration. Along with Swedish millionaire Oscar Dickson and Russian  magnate Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Sibiryakov, he was the patron of a number  of pioneering Arctic expeditions in the 1800s. Among the ventures the  king sponsored, the most important are Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld's  explorations to the Russian Arctic and Greenland, as well as Fridtjof  Nansen's Polar journey on the Fram.