Between 800 and 1000, the world's biggest copper mine opened: Stora Kopparberg in Sweden. The mine produced so much copper, that for centuries, its production dominated the European markets. The Swedish kings tried to control the copper price by regulating the amount of copper they would sell, but this left them with unimaginable stocks of copper.
From 1644 to 1776, the Swedes would resort to striking huge copper plate coins. These pieces were much too large to be hammered. The Swedish solution was to strike a coin-like emblem in the four corners. They developed a heavy contraption to do this mechanically. The first illustration shows how the heavy plate was stamped. Next is a 1 daler plate coin (official weight 1970 grams), heavy and awkward, but at least it can be handled by one person. The largest is a ten daler piece 1644. The illustrations show the whole piece and the stamps used. Only the smallest values circulated widely. The larger values were widely used as ships' ballast, that could be sold wherever the market price was higher than in Stockholm.
I will add this interesting post .
Quote (translated from Russian ):
In the middle of XVII century issued their copper Daler .
After the defeat of the Great Northern War the Swedes had to pay a huge indemnity at the time , what went nearly all government silver stocks .
In addition, in the kingdom then observed a terrible inflation . So coin dalerov1644 10 years is a copper - plate casting weight of 18 kg, and released into circulation fifteen years later, the 8- plate - casting dalerovaya weighed 13 kg . DALERA smaller denominations , of course, been easier, but fabricated in the same manner . Initially cast billet , and then processed on the anvil hammers
to remove burrs and align convexity and smoothness . Thereafter, the plate
staged appropriate stamps , numbers , letters - created a legend, and " coin " was ready to trading on commodity- money market.
