4 Öre 'Klippingar' - Regency of Johan III and Karl IX

Klippingar — square-cut emergency coins — were a distinctly Swedish solution to a persistent minting problem: the difficulty of producing round planchets in sufficient volume during periods of military and financial strain. This piece dates to the regency period following Erik XIV's forced abdication, when Johan III had just seized the throne and Karl IX was still a young duke. The political situation was volatile enough that normal mint operations were a secondary concern.

The MB#125 reference places this among the documented Svartsjö or Stockholm issues of the late 1560s, struck from silver well above the standard of many contemporary European emergency coinages.