5 Krone    (Vendue pour $168.0)

1899, Kingdom of Sweden, Oscar II. Nice Gold 5 Kronor Coin. (2.24gm!) XF-AU!

Mint Year: 1899 Reference: KM-756. Mintage: 104,000 pcs.   Denomination: 5 Kronor Condition: A nice XF-AU! Engraver: Lea Ahlsborn (LA) / Emil Brusewitz (EB) Material: Gold (.900) Diameter: 16mm Weight: 2.24gm

Obverse: Head of Oscar II as King of Sweden and Norway right. Engraver´s initials (LA) below. Legend: OSCAR II SVERIGES OCH NORGES KONUNG * 1899 *   Reverse: Denomination (KRONOR) above large value numeral (5), surrounded by three crowns. All within wreath. Privy mark (crowned bust) and mint master´s intials (EB) below. Legend: KRONOR 5 / (privy mark: crowned bust) / EB

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.