Numismatic Museum

The Central Bank and National Museum of Iceland jointly operate a numismatic collection according to an agreement ratified by the Minister of Education, Science and Culture on January 28, 1985. The agreement states that both institutions’ numismatic material should be kept in a single collection run by the Bank, while archaeological findings of coins and treasure trove remain at the National Museum. Material from the National Museum has been catalogued separately, to enable it to be distinguished from the rest.

The collection consists of Icelandic notes and coin, foreign money from earlier times, especially that mentioned in Icelandic sources, and more recent currency from Iceland’s main trading partner countries. The collection is now comprised of almost twenty thousand coins and almost five thousand types of note. A selection from the numismatic collection is on display in showcases on the ground floor of the Central Bank´s main building in Kalkofnsvegur 1.