1 Riksdaler Specie (various handwritten values)

The Riksgäldskontoret — the Swedish National Debt Office — was established in 1789 specifically to finance Gustav III's war against Russia, and these notes were its first paper instruments. Critically, the issuing authority was the Riksdag, not the crown, a deliberate constitutional arrangement designed to keep the king's hands off the printing.

The handwritten values are not a sign of primitive production — they reflect a controlled issuance system where clerks filled denominations at point of distribution, allowing flexible deployment against a moving military budget. The embossed seal was the primary authentication device in the absence of sophisticated intaglio work.

Gustav III was assassinated in 1792, the same year this series closed.