From 1877, after the establishment of the Scandinavian Monetary Union, and until the present day, Norwegian banknotes have included 1000, 500, 100, and 50 kroner notes.
However, the complete series II printed 1901−45 was rendered invalid on 9 September 1945 and those who could not readily justify their amount of cash were only given limited compensation in new money.
The previous edition (1984), no longer valid, portrays Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (1818–1879), poet, author, and proponent of Nynorsk.
The wear and tear on the 50 kroner notes has become so harsh in recent years, possibly from people not regarding them as very valuable any more, so that their maintenance cost is becoming a problem for the Bank of Norway.
The previous edition (1979), no longer valid, was the first Norwegian banknote featuring a woman: Camilla Collett (1813–1895), author, feminist activist, sister of Henrik Wergeland (author and poet), and daughter of Nicolai Wergeland (priest and co-founder of the Norwegian constitution).
The front of the 200 kroner note shows a portrait of Kristian Birkeland against a stylized pattern of the aurora borealis and a very large snowflake.
Birkeland's terrella experiment, which consisted of a small, magnetized sphere representing the Earth suspended in an evacuated box, is shown on the left.
When subjected to an electron beam a glow of light would appear around the magnetic poles of the terrella, simulating the aurora.
The back of the 200 kroner note shows a map of the north polar regions including Scandinavia to the right and northern Canada to the left.
The previous edition (1991), no longer valid, portrays Edvard Grieg (1843–1907), world-renowned national romantic composer and pianist.
The previous edition (1990), no longer valid, portrays Christian Magnus Falsen (1782–1830), a co-founder of the Norwegian constitution.