Sweden's New Circulation Coins

Dear X2an,

I am writing this post because I have been following your post on new Swedish banknotes and coins with much interest.

I asked my friend in Sweden to get some new coins for me. She was able to get them. We are struggling to find a 10 kronor (with slightly modified motto or was it a heading for King? Forgot which it was.) coin in UNC or near UNC condition.

She does not use bank.

I am trying to think of better places to find a 10 kr. coin in a better condition.

Perhaps you have a good advice or pointer for my friend and me? I would be most grateful for your help in advance.

My friend said she would be glad if you know any way for her to find such a coin in a better condition.

Many thanks for your help in advance. I really enjoyed your posts on new Swedish currency! This post is interesting as well--especially about Norwegian prices and supermarkets. :)

Kind regards,

Carrigna

to the Community, Carrigna!

I agree with what X2an writes. 10 kronor coins haven't been minted for almost a decade, so getting any in uncirculated state is getting tougher. If you can get a set then that's a good solution. For the individual coin, Tradera (Swedish) or Finn (Norwegian) or catawiki (European) might be of help. with the latter you have to look for 'shops' which are hidden somewhere deep down inside the site. All will come with postage, though, so finding a local coin shop and go for a set might turn out cheaper.

Glad you like the information about Norway and our supermarkets too. I hope it doesn't discourage you from having an interest in our country here!

Being a collector of Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic coins and currency, I am always keeping an eye open for them at my local coin shop here in northern Virginia. The shop pulls in a lot of world coins and currency and Scandinavian is never in short supply. To date I have not seen any of the new Swedish coins or currency. I have come across the new British pounds, though. Bought a 2016 and 2017 this past Saturday. Has anybody come across any of the new Swedish stuff on this side of the pond?

Carrigna,

Thank you! Yes, your thoughts on coin/currency usage in Sweden are certainly true. I'm just going to have to be patient, keep my eyes open, and constantly check with my coin dealer.

Hi Carrigna

I too think these new coins feel "cheap". They're quite the stark contrast to the old coins especially in size - the 1 and 5 krona due to their sizes still mess with my brain a bit. The 1 kr is just too small, it should be a 50 Öre coin instead due to both its size and colour. But it's not. I think many have said this, typically with "but who uses coins anymore?"

Though I feel purchasing power-wise, they feel mostly in line, but still on the cheaper end. 2 kr coins can actually buy you something, albeit very small items. However a couple could easily buy you a snack unlike the Euro "copper" coins that really are next to worthless. Many people here have comented on how similar they feel to the Euro coins and I wonder if not the "cheapness" feeling comes from there. But that's beyond me.

I think it's been very necessary to introduce a (new) 2 kronor coin, it just makes you end up with less coins. It was incredibly noticable at first when they were essentially the first new coins out and got blended in with the old masses of 1 krona coins which really weighed down your wallet. To me it was a very welcomed addition.

I too think we'd be better off with a 20 kr coin but we ended up without one. It seemed like a clash between government institutions, not a well-considered debate. Either way, I'm not too bothered as there's really nothing I can do. The 20 kr notes are mostly quite folded and sometiems dirty but the increased thickness of them have made them much more tear-resistent, so compared to the last series banknotes they fare much better.

I am genuinely interested to know when the Riksbank will issue new coins. As mentioned earlier in this thread, the mintages are know for the new coins, and we're well into 2017 now and I've yet to see any 2017 dated coins, so I reckon the chances for seeing any new dates on coins will be slim for the near future. It's just the 10 kr coin - since it hasn't been minted since 2009 I do think they are atleast considering issuing new dates of these soon. The 1991/1992 mintages were huge (>100mn for both) and the later issued coins (2001 - 2009) have relatively low mintages. This is clearly represented by coins in circulation, but I do wonder if this will be enough for a while. Coins do wear out, disappear in various ways, get disfigured/destroyed or just forgotten at home. Either way, it feels like the amount of 10 kr coins in circulation should have dropped noticeably in circulation without releases for eight years straight. And it's not like early or late mintages have been in storage for later releases - like I've mentioned earlier I rarely see 10 kr coins in good condition, even later issues are not perfect although generally in better condition as one could expect with less circulation time. Perhaps the drop in cash usage delays this with less coins being needed for circulation? That's the only plausible reason I can think of. But considering the 2013 commemorative 1 krona release was still noticeable and "issued due to commercial demand", it still seems a bit strange. 10 kr coins have a much better circualtion intentive due to their high denomination but even they get out of circulation sometime.

Time will tell

I don't think they actually withdrew them considering there was no demonetization. If there would have been then it would probably have been earlier. Instead, I'm pretty sure the coins were too large for general circulation, afterall they weighed exactly as much as two 1 kr coins but had a much larger diameter. It would've been much smoother to have two smaller 1 kr coins instead. I'm also very sure these were hoarded as the .400 silver 2 kr coins are today VERY abundant despite low mintages. Infact, I think these suffered the (almost) exact same fate as in the US and Canada. A big coin with a lower denomination worth half the amount and also weighed half as much. Less smooth, so people stopped using them, people noticed they became rarer and starting hoarding them and thus they gradually disappeared. Changing the composition didn't help either. It worth to notice that the mintages for 1 kr coins (1968-1971) were well in the 10's of millions whereas 2 kr were in single millions. For the .400 silver versions, there are occational year gaps for 2 kr coins (1960, 1962, 1967 and no silver for 1968) where no coins were minted while 1 kr coins were minted as usual and in good amounts. Mintages for the silver 2 kr coins only twice broke 2 million while the last silver 1 kr had tens of millions in for several years and most of the 1960's. So their absence was big even then, just looking at the numbers.

And to be fair - its time had come anyway. 1971 was its last year of mintage along with the 1, 2 and large 5 Öre. A 5 kr coin was introduced in 1972 (although the note was printed up until 1981) so inflation already rendered it too big.

Now I have to correct myself: the reason we don't have a 20 kr coin is not because a power clash between governments, but rather different recommendations. The financial ministry recommended against a coin but the Riksbank recommended it. A vote was held in parliament in 2009 (?) which resulted in favour of keeping the note, but not by a large margin.