1/4 Öre - Kristina

Sweden's copper coinage explosion of the 1630s was a direct consequence of the Crown's need to monetize its vast domestic copper reserves — particularly from the Falun mine in Dalarna, then the largest copper producer in Europe. Flooding the economy with low-denomination copper pieces was deliberate policy, not necessity born of silver shortage. Kristina was four years old when this type was first struck; the regency government of Axel Oxenstierna made the monetary decisions.

The Falun mine at peak output supplied roughly two-thirds of the world's copper during this decade.