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Författare Ämne: Swedish money in 1790 and before  (läst 1708 gånger)

2000-07-31, 04:58
läst 1708 gånger

Ishbel Cormack

I understand that about 1626 Sweden used copper coins in the shape of a square, called clippings, because there was a shortage of silver. Did they also use round silver ones minted on the continent or in Sweden?  
When Marcus Kock, mint master, came to Sweden about that time did the type of coins change? Were both metals used?
 
In 1787 the cost of 1/4 of a farm was written as 777riksd. 37sk. 4runst.spec. what do the abreviations riksd.,sk.,and runst.spec. mean?
 
In 1731 a silver goblet was listed as worth 23dlr k:mt.Is this listed in a diferent type of currency than the 1787 farm purchase?

2000-07-31, 11:37
Svar #1

Utloggad Agneta Rung

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Ishbel,
 
You got me reading again! I looked into my encyclopedia and this it what it says about coins.  
 
The value of the coins in those days corresponded to the commercial value of the metal they were made of. Sweden minted coins in gold, silver and copper. The clippings you mention were in Sweden regular coins with a value of 1 öre. In other countries that method was used mainly for making the type of coins that did not contain the right amount of metal - some kind of crisis coins (nödmynt in swedish) made in times of war for instance. In 1717, Charles XII, had 1 daler silver coins made from copper, but although they are crisis coins they are round.
 
The first coins made in Sweden are from around year 1000 - before that we used foreign coins.
 
The largest coin in the world was struck in Avesta, Dalarna, in 1644. It was made from copper but had the value 10 daler silver. It is rectangular and weighs 19,7 kilos (!) - you don't put that one in your pocket... (I was born and raised in Avesta, by the way, and I have seen a replica of that coin in the Mint museum.)
 
The Mint in Avesta was started in 1644 by Marcus Kock for striking copper coins. He worked there 1644-1657. 1644-1831 (almost 200 years) Avesta was responsible for almost all coin production in Sweden.
 
Between 1777 and 1855 the coins in Sweden were:
1 riksdaler = 48 skilling
1 skilling = 12 runstycken (specie)
 
So the 1/4 of a farm cost 777 riksdaler, 37 skilling and 4 runstycken specie.
 
From the medieval ages until 1776 a lot of different coins existed. In 1719 you had:  
1 riksdaler (specie) = 3 daler silvermynt = 9 daler kopparmynt. (Silvermynt means silver coin and kopparmynt means copper coin.)
 
So the goblet was worth 23 daler kopparmynt.
 
Regards
Agneta

2000-08-01, 02:22
Svar #2

Ishbel Cortmack

Agenta: Is there any way of figuring out what those coins would be equal to in today's Swedish and American currency?
I have learned so much about Sweden from this site.
Thank you.

2000-08-01, 11:57
Svar #3

Utloggad Agneta Rung

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Hmm! To know what certain things cost might give you an idea of what the money was worth. I found a nice site by Hans Högman about the old monetary system and lots of other interesting things. http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/slaekt.htm. It's partly translated to english! If you choose In English please and then Our old monetary system you will get to a page which unfortunately is in swedish. But if you click down to Förkortningar (=abbreviations), Kurser (=rates) and Priser (=costs) I'm sure you can figure out what it says.
 
As for the items in the costs table:
Ett dagsverke = a days work
Ko = cow
Gris = pig
Huspiga = house maid
1 kanna = 87.9 US oz (also according to this site)
Öl = beer
Dräng = farm hand
Skjorta = shirt
1 tunna = 33.2 US gallons
Vete = wheat
Råg = rye
1 skålpund = 0.94 pounds
Snus = snuff
Industriarbetare = industrial worker
Emigrantresa = emigration voyage
Inom metall = in the metal industry
Brännvin = alcohol (like vodka)
Torkat fläsk = dried pork
Manlig arbetare = male worker
Smör = butter
Punsch = Swedish punch
 
Regards
Agneta

2000-08-01, 15:15
Svar #4

Ishbel Cormack

Agenta:What a great site. There is lots of information about such a variety of things. Many thanks.

2000-08-01, 20:36
Svar #5

Utloggad Christina Backman

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Ishbel! It seems Agneta is too modest to point  
out to you that you have got her name wrong.  
She is AGNETA (from AGNES) not Agenta  
though she is certainly as effective as James  
Bond the Agent.
Regards Christina.    .

2000-08-01, 20:56
Svar #6

Ishbel Cormack

Oh dear! Thanks for alerting me to my mistake Christina and my apology to Agneta.

2000-08-03, 13:33
Svar #7

Utloggad Mikael Edberg

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    • hem.bredband.net/mikedb/slaktindex.htm
Ishbel: Another great source for swedish currency is the book, Vad kostade det?(How much did it cost?) by Lars O Lagerqvist and Ernst Nathorst-Böös. Written in swedish though.
I tried to transform the cost of your ancestors farm to todays currency.
In 1873 a riksdaler(rdr) specie was exhanged into 4 kronor, So 777 rdr specie would be 3108 kronor.
Taking into account the inflation from 1787 to 1997, 6910 %, your part of the farm would cost 215 000 kronor or around 24 kUSD.
This is of course an uncertain figure, which should be treated as curiosity.
As Agneta already pointed out a better way of dealing with this problem is to compare price and salary in different ages.
From the book mentioned above You can find out that a deputy judge(Hovrättsassesor) earned 400 rdr per year in 1785. And a Steersman, mate(Styrman) 6 rdr per month plus food.
In 1730, a carpenter earned 324 daler kopparmynt( km) per year.
In 1740, a farm-hand earned 50 daler km per year plus clothing while a maid only earned 24 daler km.
 
Regards, Mikael

2000-08-03, 18:28
Svar #8

Ishbel Cormack

Mikael:Comparing price and salary at different ages is much better and more interesting.  I will check with the university here and see if they can locate a copy for me. If one is easy to find I will get it and have a look at it. I do not know Swedish but may be able to pick out a few things.`
Thank you for helping me to get a feeling for life in those days.

2000-08-03, 22:32
Svar #9

Utloggad Mikael Edberg

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Ishbel, The book is printed the first time 1984 and the ISBN number is: ISBN 91-27-34956-X
 
Regards, Mikael

2000-08-04, 08:53
Svar #10

Utloggad Hans Högman

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Agneta, thanks for mentioning my homepage (http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/slaekt.htm). As a matter of fact, I'm in a process of translating my page about the history of the Swedish monetary system to English.
The page is almost ready and I will probably publish it on my site next week .
 
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