On January 30, 1959 the newly built Greenland ship Hans Hedtoft was lost at Kap Farvel (Cape Farewell), the southern tip of Greenland, after a collision with an iceberg. All 95 on board perished. A life buoy from the Hans Hedtoft washed ashore in Iceland, and is now on display in the church at Julianehaab, Greenland. The disaster was viewed as a national catastrophe. Newspapers printed up broadsheets to be distributed on the streets of Copenhagen.
The Greenland Foundation 1959 was quickly established to raise money by the way of surcharges on coins and postage stamps. A circular dated February 13 was sent to post offices throughout Denmark announcing the coming stamp. By February 23, 1959 a 30 Øre postage stamp was issued, with the "Grønlands-fonden + 10" overprint surcharge. A total of 1,860,000 stamps were sold. A Greenlandic stamp was issued the same day with a similar overprint, with a total of 345,000 stamps sold.
Harald Salomon, a medallist with the Royal Mint in Copenhagen has left a sketch dated February 10, 1959, showing a proposed 2 Kroner coin. The obverse is the ordinary 2 Kroner, which was used on circulation coins and on the commemorative 2 Kroner coins as late as Princess's Margrethe's 18th birthday in 1958. The reverse is similar to the 2 Kroner issued in 1953 Greenland commemorative, which was sold at a premium in Denmark and Greenland to raise funds to fight tuberculosis in Greenland. The inscription "KALÂTDLIT NUNÂT" on the 1953 2 Kroner is replaced by "GRØNLANDSFONDEN AF 1959." The coin probably would have been struck in silver and sold for 5 Kroner, of which the surcharge would go to the Greenland Foundation.