I bought these online and they are described as Sweden 1718 Emergency Dalers.I bought them because of the cool portraits of Mars,Saturn (Father Time holding baby) and Mercury. Other than that,I don't know much about the history of them.Can anyone help shed some light on these?
Scroll about halfway down >>this<< page. What's that part about "Trust me, the government is your friend"?
These are referred to as Goertz Dalers, during the Great Northern War of 1700-1721, Baron Goertz was King Charles XII's financial adviser to the Swedish crown. Basically what happened was the Swedish Govt was running out of money, and Charles XII was loafing in the Ottoman Empire under the protection of the Sultan, and out of the reach of Petr I of Russia. The Swedish mint, having run out of money, and not having means of creating money of any real value, issued these under the advice of Baron Goertz, these being a token issue with a stated value. However, they were remarkably unpopular as could be imagined under the circumstance, so much so, that coupled with other alleged offences attached to Baron Goertz, would subsequently result in his being sentenced to death after the demise of Charles XII in battle in Norway in 1718. By comparison a daler issued in it's actual value in plate money was indeed much much larger, and had a real value, these Goertz Dalers having no such value other than that which the Govt alleged them to have. Soon after issue they were duly withdrawn and were only worth the curiousity and history of their issuance.
Thank you Roy and Krasnaya.That clears up the mystery for me. Incidently,I paid $22 for all three so I'm happy.
