  Money
HistoryThe first Frilandic coins appeared around 680. These coins were derived from the sceattas that were used in Frisia and on the British isles. In Frilandic the coins were called "skat" and equipped with stylised people, animals, runes and plant motives. The oldest coins were made of silver but later golden coins were also minted. The Roman custom to put portraits of kings and emperors on coins never became truly successful in Friland, although in the past there have been coins with images of historical figures. For centuries every city minted its own version of the skat. In 1439, under king Þeudrik, for the first time one coin was minted that served as a means of payment in all of Friland, this was mainly done to stimulate domestic trade. The skat became the official currency and consisted of 100 skillung, the Frilandic counterpart of the cent/penny. The coins were made of precious metal for centuries but these days steel, copper, nickel or brass is often used for this. Although the value of the skat has fluctuated throughout the course of centuries, its value at the beginning of the 21st century was the equivalent of 0,75 euro. When on January 1, 2002 an important part of the EU countries transferred to the euro, Friland decided to connect the value of the skat to the euro for economic reasons. In practice this resulted in many problems, such as heavily increased prices and a fastly growing dependence on the European economy. Eventually the global financial crisis and a change of economic policy settled the matter; on March 1, 2012, the Riksþing decided to disconnect the skat from the euro again. After that, the value of the skat became 1.20 euro. Currency The national bank is the Frilandiska Geldhod, which is responsible for minting the money and bringing it into circulation. The skat is abbreviated to FSK and its value is 1.20 euro. A skat consists of 100 skillung. Coins On one side all Frilandic coins are equal in design: at the top along the edge it says "Friland" in runic writing, in the middle there is a large number that shows the value of the coin and below that is the date of minting. The other side is different for each coin. The coins are as follows:
Bank notes There are bank notes of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 skat. To make them easily distinguishable they all have a different colour and for the blind a barely visible watermark has been added to the lower right corner, which allows them to feel the value of the bank note.  On January 12, 2024, four commemorative coins were issued: the Silver Skat (Silubarskat), Gold Skat (Gulþskat), Palladium Skat (Palladskat) and Platinum Skat (Platinskat). Each coin depicts a tree, the name of which refers to, or alliterates with, the metal. The coins are therefore also known as Silubargelprum ("Silver Apricot" = Ginkgo), Gulþregan (Golden Rain), Palladperþ (Palladium Pear Tree) and Platinplat (Platinum Plane Tree). These precious coins are highly sought after collector's items. Hiveria In Hiveria people pay with the Hiverian Franc (HFR), which is about 0,35 euro in value. The Franc consists of 100 as.  |
