8 Daler Silvermynt - Charles XI Type I

The plate money (plåtmynt) system was Sweden's solution to a fundamental problem: the country had copper in abundance but silver in shortage, so from 1644 onward the Riksbank backed its currency with massive copper plates stamped at face value. An 8 Daler piece required roughly 13 kilograms of metal precisely because copper's value relative to silver demanded it — the coin had to contain its worth by weight. Transporting any meaningful sum was a logistical ordeal; merchants sometimes hired carts.

The Type I designation distinguishes Charles XI's earliest issues, struck in the first years of his nominal reign while Sweden was governed by a regency council following his father's death in 1660. Charles was four years old.