W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

Descriptive Outline of the Coinages of Europe 381
To this and the immediately ensuing reigns belong those
extraordinary numismatic phenomena, the ponderous dalers
and their multiples, which are to be regarded as weights for
the purchase of goods rather than as coins. They are not
of unfrequent occurrence, although cartloads have been
melted in Sweden, but fine specimens and the largest sizes
are difficult to procure. There are, when we approach
more recent days, numerous specimens worthy of attention,
and on personal grounds those connected with Bernadotte
(1818-44) have a special
value. He issued two distinct
types, the broad and the thick fabric ; nearly all the pieces
bear his portrait.
By the monetary concordat of 1872, the three northernmost
states of Europe adopted an uniform system and basis
founded on the krona.
In the class of currency in which we find other parts of
Europe so rich the feudal coinage Sweden never seems
to have produced much. The duchies of Finland and
Sudermania and the town of Stralsund, of which we possess
silver and billon pieces with Sundenszs, almost exhaust the
list so far as Sweden proper
is concerned. But there is a
thaler of Oxenstierna, 1633, with his name, titles, and arms. 1
While Sweden remained a German as well as a Scandinavian
Power, some of the secular and ecclesiastical dignitaries received
or assumed the title of Princes of the Kingdom. Such
was the case, among others, with the Bishop of Breslau.
The siege-money or special currency for political emergencies
chiefly arose out of the military operations between
the Swedes and Danes, commencing \vith the establishment
of Swedish freedom under Gustavus Vasa in 1521-23. But
there is also a series of pieces struck by the Dukes of Finland
and Sudermania, while they were engaged in a revolt
against Eric XIV., and later issues (1589-1603) of the Duke
of Sudermania alone, in his contest for the crown, which he
assumed in 1604 as Charles IX. Both he and his successor
Gustavus Adolphus resorted to a large extent through their
reigns to an irregular monetary system, and down to 1771
1
Reinmann Catalogue, 1891-92, Part iii. ,
No. 9459.