The Swedish Empire had the greatest and most numerous copper mines in Europe as it entered into its

pre-eminence in the early 17th century as an emerging Great Power. Through poor fiscal policies and in
part the Treaty of Älvsborg, Sweden lost control of its reserves of precious metals, primarily silver, of
which most had fled to the burgeoning trade economy of Amsterdam. In 1607 the Swedish king Charles
IX attempted to persuade the populace to exchange their silver-based currency for a copper-based coin
of equal face value, though this offer was not generally taken up. Sweden's large army of the time were
paid entirely in copper currency, further issued in large numbers by Gustavus IIto finance his war
against Ferdinand II of Germany. The face value of the copper coins in circulation now greatly exceeded
the reserves of the state and production of the national economy, and quickly the value of the currency
fell to its commodity value, which in a country where copper was so abundant, was small indeed. The
savings of the people of Sweden were wiped out.

When Gustavus' daughter and heir Christina reached maturity at 18, after a brief fling with paper-based
money backed by copper—which was well received initially but soon lost credibility—she began issuing
copper in lumps as large as fifteen kilograms to serve as currency. Unwieldy as they were, the copper-
based monetary system worked to a fashion until the world copper price slumped. Sweden's great
copper no longer commanded the premium it once had on world markets, and foreign income dried up.
Relative to the rest of Europe, Sweden's people once more had become poor.

In an effort to shore up the economy, government minister Baron von Görtz stepped up to the challenge
and became the country's central banker. He issued more copper-based currency without limit, with a
face value of one daler (much greater than their intrinsic value) and which were technically inferior and
easy to counterfeit. Soon these coins were so abundant that they too depreciated rapidly towards their
raw metal value as belief spread that the copper coins would soon be unacceptable as a form of
payment of taxes. Görtz was blamed for the failure, and was duly beheaded in March of 1719, a
punishment which greatly pleased the Swedish people.

A brief history of copper and its use as money.

Copper is the first metal man is known to work with and its
discovery dates
back to between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago. The Sumerians and
Chaldeans
soon learned they could hammer it into sheets and work those
sheets into
shapes. The ancient Egyptians also used copper to fashion eating
utensils,
farm implements, dishes, trays and more. Many of these artifacts
ended up
buried in Egyptian tombs and have remained in good condition to
this day.

The Romans used copper as money, mainly for small purchases

that
couldn't be easily handled by silver and gold coin. The earliest
Roman
copper coins called "As" were cast in stone molds. Later, they
were struck
using a set of dies with the impressions placed into an anvil.

Today pure copper and copper alloys are used in a wide variety of
industrial
processes and features of modern life (most notably electrical
wires, pipes,
and the Statue of Liberty).

Up until 1982 the penny was made of 95 percent copper. Copper

may very
well come into use again as intrinsically valuable money for small
purchases. Because of its low price it is easy to acquire and
accumulate.
Unlike gold and silver that are considered the money of kings and
rich men,
copper is viewed as the money of the working man, who needs to
make
small investments and transactions. It can also be the money of
children.