Swedish copper plate money
A coin weighing almost 20 kilograms
Copper-rich Sweden began issuing money in 1644 as rectangular copper plates worth their weight in metal. The largest, a 10-daler plate, weighed nearly 20 kg; payments had to be hauled by cart.
Wikipedia (English) · 17th century
Did you know
In 17th-century Sweden a coin could weigh almost 20 kg. Copper plates were worth their weight in metal, so large payments went by cart. No wonder Sweden issued Europe’s first banknotes. Share →
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1654 Pereiaslav Agreement — 10 years later
Africa
- 1624–1663 Nzinga becomes Queen of Ndongo — 20 years earlier
- 1662 Last sighting of the dodo — 18 years later
Asia
- 1632–1653 Building of the Taj Mahal — 12 years earlier
- 1644 Fall of the Ming, rise of the Qing — same year
Alive at the time
- René Descartes (aged 48)
- Rembrandt (aged 38)
- Louis XIV (aged 6)
- Isaac Newton (aged 1)
- Nur Jahan (aged 67)
- Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba (aged 61)
- Shah Jahan (aged 52)
- Michael I (aged 48)
- Oliver Cromwell (aged 45)
- Charles I (aged 44)