¼ Ducat – Sweden

In 1754, Sweden was operating under a complex and strained monetary system, a legacy of its failed "Age of Liberty" experiments and the Great Northern War. The official currency was the silver riksdaler, but the economy was flooded with two types of depreciated paper money: riksdaler specie (backed by silver) and the nearly worthless riksdaler banco, issued by the Riksens Ständers Bank (precursor to the Riksbank). The value of these currencies fluctuated wildly against each other and against silver, causing confusion, inflation, and hindering trade.

The root of the crisis lay in decades of excessive paper money printing to finance war and state deficits. By 1754, the public had lost confidence in the banknotes, leading to a severe shortage of physical coinage as people hoarded silver. This created a dual circulation where commodities often had two prices: one in silver and a much higher one in paper. The government's attempts to fix exchange rates between the monetary units were largely ineffective in the face of market realities.

Consequently, 1754 fell within a period of intense monetary debate and gradual reform. The Caps (Mössorna) political faction, then in power, pursued a deflationary policy aimed at restoring the value of the paper banco to parity with silver. This policy, while intended to create stability, often exacerbated short-term economic hardship by restricting credit and liquidity. The situation would eventually lead to more decisive action, culminating in the major monetary reform of 1776, which aimed to finally unify and stabilize the currency system.