by Björn Schöpe
July 26, 2012 – Generally coins propagate information from the rulers’ point of view. Generally, however, rulers are those who issue coins. Otherwise counterfeits are made as similar to the original as possible in order not to be spotted immediately. Due to lower production cost counterfeiters, generally, hope for financial gain.
The authentic 1-krona coin from 2009. Source: Riksbank.
But now in Sweden it is different. The motifs of a certain counterfeiter are not quite clear, the production costs are likely to exceed by far the gain – if there was any, at all. But what did he fake? The 1-krona coin. Anyway, he did not try to assimilate his product to the original completely, since there is a decisive difference. The official coin bears a portrait of Carl Gustaf and the legend: ‘CARL XVI GUSTAF SVERIGES KONUNG’ (Carl XVI Gustaf Sweden’s King). Lately in Sweden coins were found which show a slightly changed legend: ‘Carl XVI Gustaf, our whore of a king’.
Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden, on Sweden’s National Day June 6 2009 at Skansen in Stockholm. Source: Bengt Nyman / Wikimedia Commons.
This allusion is very obvious to any Swede and refers to alleged escapades of the monarch during the late nineties. At this time the king and his friends were supposed to frequent regularly night clubs and Carl Gustaf allegedly had an affair with a young model. One of his closest friends reportedly offered money to a blackmailer of Stockholm’s ‘underworld’ to withhold him from publishing photos that would compromise the monarch. All these dirty stories came forth after a biography of Sweden’s King had been published. The King’s statements were even more awkward than the facts themselves.
The fake coins allude clearly to these old stories. But why? Nobody knows. Neither do we know who issued them. However, they are of ‘exceptional quality’ as Marten Gomer said, technical expert of the Riksbank. Probably we will never know who was the originator because police is not investigating. According to the authorities there has been no complain to the police. Obviously the royal family seeks to maintain silence over the whole story to not revive the nasty rumours. And what about the criminal offence of counterfeiting? It seems that this counts even less than the king’s reputation.
This is an article on the counterfeit coins.
You may see the authentic coins on the website of the Riksbank – which, however, does not inform about this event.
To read about the past stories of Carl Gustaf there is a Telegraph article.