Rootsi 17. sajandi vaskmüntide leid Põhja-Tartumaalt Vaidaverest [Abstract: A hoard of Swedish copper coin from Vaidavere]

The paper discusses a hoard of Swedish copper coins discovered using metal detector in 2013 in Vaidavere, eastern Estonia. 11,104 coins were hidden in the ground in a wooden box. Youngest of the coins were minted in the year 1654. Vast majority of the hoard consists of ¼ öre from the reign of queen Christina. 10 coins were struck for King Gustav II Adolf. Oldest coins of the hoard are from the year 1624. Considering the numer of the coins, Vaidavere hoard is the largest in Estonia and it also represents a largest hoard of seventeenth-century Swedish copper coins ever to have reached public collections. The owner of Vaidavere coins died probably during the Russo-Swedish War (1656–61), more precisely in the year 1656 when Russian troops conquered Tartu and looted neighbouring territories. Approximately 40 hoards discovered in Estonia can be associated with the hostile activities of the same war. The paper compares the composition of Vaidavere hoard to the composition of other larger seventeenth-century copper coin hoards unearthed in Estonia and neighbouring countries. Results of the study reveal that the composition of different ¼ öre find assemblages from Estonia and Ingria is largely similar and in good correlation with the production rates of different Swedish mints in different years. Weighing of ¼ öre from Vaidavere hoard revealed that their average weight was considerably lower than the officially fixed minted standard.