Newman Portal Search: Plate Money

A Newman Portal user searched this week for “plate money.” One of the search results points to the January 2015 Stack’s Bowers New York International auction sale catalog, which featured the Stanley Aberdeen collection of Swedish plate money. Most collectors are only vaguely familiar with plate money as a form of “odd and curious” money, so Stack’s has helpfully included a brief overview of the series. These curious plates of copper were issued by Sweden from 1644 to 1776 in denominations from the 1/2 to 10 Daler. Records indicate 48 million were manufactured, of which 11,000 were believed to exist as of 1986. Typical examples are valued between $1,000 and $2,000, though exceptional pieces will command more. Increased circulation of paper money was a factor in their demise, not a surprise as the first examples of plate money weighed over 40 pounds!Link to Stack’s Bowers January 2015 catalog on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=517154&page=304