5 Kronor - Gustaf VI Adolf

Sweden's postwar silver content debate shaped this issue directly. By the early 1950s, rising silver prices had made the prewar .600 fine coinage economically untenable, and the Riksbank pushed for a further reduction. The .400 fine billon standard adopted here was a compromise — low enough to remove hoarding incentive, high enough to preserve some institutional credibility before Sweden abandoned silver in circulation coinage altogether with the 1972 currency reform.

The added zinc and nickel in the alloy caused accelerated toning in circulation, and well-preserved examples from the later years of the run are noticeably harder to locate than the mintage figures suggest.