GMK:318
After Karl XII’s (Charles XII’s) war at the beginning of the 1700s, the State was short of money. In order to afford the wars and other expenses, the State ordered small copper coins to be minted. These were called mynttecken but were nicknamed nödmynt (emergency coins).
The copper coins were designed so that their face value was greater than their metal value, and that later they could be redeemed for the greater value. More than 40 million such coins were minted. However, the exchange system did not work and ordinary people lost out with the coins.
The finance minister who was considered responsible for the idea was executed in 1719 by being beheaded.