Appendix C: The Swedish Currency
At several places in this book, prices and salaries are discussed but unfortunately
the history of the Swedish currency is rather complicated. The currency in Sweden
1624–1776 was the daler. To complicate matter, there were both copper dalers
(daler kopparmynt), silver dalers (daler silvermynt) and riksdaler (Swedish for
“national daler”).
During the first period discussed in this book, 1 riksdaler (or riksdaler
specie) = 3 silver dalers = 6 copper dalers = 96 silver öre (öre silvermynt). Prices
were often stated in copper dalers, although the copper daler was only unit; copper
daler coins were never minted. Silver dalers were minted, but not in silver as one
could expect, but in copper; the world’s largest “coin” was the Swedish 10 daler, a
copper sheet weighing 19 kg. The riksdalers, however, were traditional silver coins.
In 1776, King Gustav III made a reform and introduced a new riksdaler, which
was equivalent to 6 old silver dalers. 1 new riksdaler was divided into 48 shillings
(skilling).
If one would attempt to translate the value of 1 silver daler in 1770 to a modern
currency, one could obtain very different results depending on how the calculation
was made. One could base the calculation on the prices of common goods, or one
could base the calculations on salaries. A worker in 1770 typically had a very low
salary, which was often not paid in money, but in food and accommodation. Thus, a
Swedish worker in 1770 had to work a much longer time to afford 1 litre of milk
than a Swedish worker of today. Below are approximate prices of some goods 1770
in silver dalers [3]:
1 barrel (150 l) of rye: 11 daler
1 ox: 36 daler, 13 öre
1 cow: 24 daler, 19 öre
1 lamb: 5 daler
1 hen: 14 öre
20 eggs: 20 öre
1 lispund (8.5 kg) dried fish: 2 daler, 11 öre
1 lispund dried meat: 2 daler 12 öre
1 lispund butter: 7 daler, 12 öre
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Lennartson, Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Torbern Bergman, Perspectives on the
History of Chemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49194-9
417
At several places in this book, prices and salaries are discussed but unfortunately
the history of the Swedish currency is rather complicated. The currency in Sweden
1624–1776 was the daler. To complicate matter, there were both copper dalers
(daler kopparmynt), silver dalers (daler silvermynt) and riksdaler (Swedish for
“national daler”).
During the first period discussed in this book, 1 riksdaler (or riksdaler
specie) = 3 silver dalers = 6 copper dalers = 96 silver öre (öre silvermynt). Prices
were often stated in copper dalers, although the copper daler was only unit; copper
daler coins were never minted. Silver dalers were minted, but not in silver as one
could expect, but in copper; the world’s largest “coin” was the Swedish 10 daler, a
copper sheet weighing 19 kg. The riksdalers, however, were traditional silver coins.
In 1776, King Gustav III made a reform and introduced a new riksdaler, which
was equivalent to 6 old silver dalers. 1 new riksdaler was divided into 48 shillings
(skilling).
If one would attempt to translate the value of 1 silver daler in 1770 to a modern
currency, one could obtain very different results depending on how the calculation
was made. One could base the calculation on the prices of common goods, or one
could base the calculations on salaries. A worker in 1770 typically had a very low
salary, which was often not paid in money, but in food and accommodation. Thus, a
Swedish worker in 1770 had to work a much longer time to afford 1 litre of milk
than a Swedish worker of today. Below are approximate prices of some goods 1770
in silver dalers [3]:
1 barrel (150 l) of rye: 11 daler
1 ox: 36 daler, 13 öre
1 cow: 24 daler, 19 öre
1 lamb: 5 daler
1 hen: 14 öre
20 eggs: 20 öre
1 lispund (8.5 kg) dried fish: 2 daler, 11 öre
1 lispund dried meat: 2 daler 12 öre
1 lispund butter: 7 daler, 12 öre
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Lennartson, Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Torbern Bergman, Perspectives on the
History of Chemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49194-9
417