24 Schillingar / Skillingiä

The Riksgäldskontoret — the National Debt Office — was created by the Swedish Riksdag in 1789 specifically to finance Gustav III's ruinously expensive war against Russia. Unable to fund the conflict through the Riksbank, which the Riksdag's rival Estate factions controlled, the king effectively created a parallel paper money system under direct parliamentary authority. These Riksgälds notes were the result, and they circulated alongside Riksbank notes at a discount for decades, creating a two-currency confusion that plagued Swedish commerce well into the nineteenth century.

The 24 Skilling denomination sat at an awkward intermediary value in the Swedish skilling system of the period. Notes of this series were printed in Stockholm by the Kontoret's own facilities.