100 Kronor 1982, Sweden
| in Krause book | Number: 54c |
| Years of issue: | 1982 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Riksbankschef: Lars Wohlin (1980 - 1982), Kurt Eklöf |
| Serie: | 1963 - 1976 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 25.10.1965 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 140 х 82 |
| Printer: | Tumba Bruk (Crane and Co.), Tumba, Sweden |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre (1583 - 1654), Count of Södermöre, was a Swedish statesman. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a confidant of first Gustavus Adolphus and then Queen Christina.
Oxenstierna is widely considered one of the most influential people in Swedish history. He played an important role during the Thirty Years War and was appointed Governor-General of occupied Prussia; he also laid the foundations of Swedish central government administration.
Repeated picture.
Avers:
The engraving of HM The King Gustav II Adolf is made, presumably, after the one of two paintings or after both of them. One is made by Jacob Hoefnagel around 1621 and the other is made by Jacob Heinrich Elbfas around late 1620s. Today the portrait is in the Stockholm church "Kungsholms kyrka".
HM The King Gustav II Adolf (9 December 1594 - 6 November 1632, O.S.); widely known in English by his Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus or as Gustav II Adolph, or as Gustavus Adolphus the Great (Swedish: Gustav Adolf den store, Latin: Gustavus Adolphus Magnus, a formal posthumous distinction passed by the Riksdag of the Estates in 1634). Was the King of Sweden from 1611 to 1632 and is credited as the founder of Sweden as a Great Power (Swedish: Stormaktstiden). He led Sweden to military supremacy during the Thirty Years War, helping to determine the political as well as the religious balance of power in Europe.
He is often regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time, with innovative use of combined arms. His most notable military victory was the Battle of Breitenfeld. With a superb military machine with good weapons, excellent training, and effective field artillery, backed by an efficient government which could provide necessary funds, Gustavus Adolphus was poised to make himself a major European leader, but he was killed at the Battle of Lützen in 1632. He was ably assisted in his efforts by Count Axel Oxenstierna, the Lord High Chancellor of Sweden, who also acted as regent after his death.
In an era characterized by almost endless warfare, he led his armies as king from 1611 (at age 17) until his death in battle in 1632 while leading a charge-as Sweden rose from the status of a mere regional power and run-of-the-mill kingdom to one of the great powers of Europe and a model of early modern era government. Within only a few years of his accession, Sweden had become the largest nation in Europe after Russia and Spain. Some have called him the "father of modern warfare", or the first great modern general. Under his tutelage, Sweden and the Protestant cause developed a number of excellent commanders, such as Lennart Torstensson, who would go on to defeat Sweden's enemies and expand the boundaries and the power of the empire long after Gustavus Adolphus' death in battle.
He was known by the epithets "The Golden King" and "The Lion of the North" by neighboring sovereigns. Gustavus Adolphus is commemorated today with city squares in major Swedish cities like Stockholm, Gothenburg and Helsingborg. Gustavus Adolphus College, a Lutheran college in St. Peter, Minnesota, is also named for the Swedish King. 
To the left of the king, against the background of the guilloche, is large denomination in numeral.
Under it is the motto of Swedish Riksbank.
"Hinc robur et securitas" (Latin: For strength and security). The motto of the Swedish Riksbank. All banknotes from the 1890s and up until the 1963 had this motto on oberse. Between 1963 and 1986 there was only one hundred thousand bills that had the motto. Nowadays it is only five hundred bills and this is in the form of microtext. The purpose of the motto is to give confidence in the paper money issued by Riksbank. The Riksbank is the ultimate guarantor of the value of money.
Lower, at the bottom, is stylized stalk of the plant.
Denominations in numerals are centered, in lower right and top left corners. In words centered.
Revers:
Engraving of the warship Wasa (Vasa).
Vasa (or Wasa) is a Swedish warship built 1626-1628. The ship foundered and sank after sailing about 1,300 m. (1,400 yd.) into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. She fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronze cannons were salvaged in the 17th century until she was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping lane just outside the Stockholm harbor. Salvaged with a largely intact hull in 1961, she was housed in a temporary museum called Wasavarvet ("The Wasa Shipyard") until 1988 and then moved to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. The ship is one of Sweden's most popular tourist attractions and has been seen by over 29 million visitors since 1961. Vasa has since her recovery become a widely recognized symbol of the Swedish "great power period". She is today also a de facto standard in the media and among Swedes for evaluating the historical importance of shipwrecks.
The ship was built at the order of the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus as part of the military expansion he initiated in a war with Poland-Lithuania (1621-1629). It was constructed in Stockholm at the navy yard under a contract with private entrepreneurs in 1626-1627 and armed primarily with bronze cannons cast in Stockholm specifically for the ship. It was richly decorated as a symbol of the king's ambitions for Sweden and himself, and upon completion was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. Vasa was dangerously unstable however, due to too much weight in the upper structure of the hull. Despite this lack of stability she was ordered to sea and foundered only a few minutes after encountering a first wind stronger than a breeze. The order to sail was the result of a combination of factors. The king, who was leading the army in Poland at the time of her maiden voyage, was impatient to see her take up her station as flagship of the reserve squadron at Älvsnabben in the Stockholm Archipelago. At the same time the king's subordinates lacked the political courage to discuss the ship's structural problems frankly or to have the maiden voyage postponed. An inquiry was organized by the Swedish Privy Council to find personal responsibility for the disaster, but in the end no one was punished for the fiasco.
During the 1961 recovery, thousands of artifacts and the remains of at least 15 people were found in and around the Vasa's hull by marine archaeologists. Among the many items found were clothing, weapons, cannons, tools, coins, cutlery, food, drink and six of the ten sails. The artifacts and the ship herself have provided scholars with invaluable insight into details of naval warfare, shipbuilding techniques and everyday life in early 17th-century Sweden.
On left side are, two of the many, grotesque figures, that were installed on the ship - bearded man and the lion.
The lion from North.
Above the rudder there is a figure of a lion that is 1.5 meters high.
Curiously, the lion has its back towards us(see picture below). It is standing on a grotesque mask on its hind legs. The lion is looking back over its shoulder to the right. There is more to this small lion than meets the eye. There is hidden symbolism to be discovered. This is an old medieval motif, 'virtue´s triumph over vice', symbolized by the noble lion stamping on the ugly and evil face. This motif was often depicted by a Saint or a canonized King stepping on heathendom. Heathendom was often symbolized by a dragon or a troll. Clearly here Gustav Adolf, the lion, will stamp out heathendom in Europe by defeating Sweden´s enemies.
The sculpture can also be interpreted politically. In feudal Germany a number of prophecies were in circulation during the time of the Vasa. The protestants in northern Germany spoke of a Lion from the North who would come to their aid from northern Europe and save them from the catholics in southern Europe. This prophecy was written down by the Swiss philosopher Paracelsus about one hundred years earlier in the early 16th century. The prophecy was quite old therefore when Gustav Adolf became king of Sweden. Before the building of the Vasa, Denmark´s king was thought of as this 'Lion from the North'. The Danes lost the war against the Emperor(see first page) and after that Gustav Adolf 'took over' the prophecy. It is no wonder that this theme is represented on the Vasa. (The sculptures of the Vasa)
The sculpture of a bearded man is likely to be a Gideon soldier.
On the same level as the captain´s cabin, on the upper stern gallery, stands a row of warriors wearing Roman armour. There are more than twenty of them. The row of warriors continues on the sides of the aftercastle and they are also seen on the upper quarter galleries. The soldiers are not only carrying swords, but they are equipped with trumpets, horns, torches and lamps. They represent a tale from the Old Testament, the story of Gideon and his soldiers. God gave the Israelites the land of the Midianites. Their land was then attacked by the Midianites. With only 300 men at his side, Gideon, leader of the Israelites, managed to outwit the Midianites. God advised Gideon to attack the enemy at night with only 300 men.
Gideon and his men succeeded and scared the enemy army away by blowing their horns and breaking pitchers that concealed their torches, in the dark, thus appearing suddenly without warning and causing great alarm. This was a tremendous feat because the Midianites greatly outnumbered the 300 Israelites.
The subject here is a leader who vanquishes a superior enemy which outnumbers them, with the help of God. This theme had a special significance for the swedish King, who realized that Sweden would soon intervene in the Thirty Years War. Gustav Adolf was to be a "Gideon of his time" and make Sweden a major power in Europe.
Three denominations in numerals.
Comments:
Designer: Eric Palmquist.
Engraver: Alfred Nefe.
Portrait painters:
Jacob Heinrich Elbfas - Swedish, born circa 1600-1664, was a portrait painter, educated in Strasbourg in a tradition drawing back to Renaissance portraits. He established himself in Sweden from 1622 and from 1628 in Stockholm where he became a guild master. During the period 1634-1640 he worked as a court painter for Queen Maria Eleonora. His was frequently employed by the Swedish nobility and his influence on Swedish art was considerable until a new generation of artists were invited by Queen Christina during the 1640s.
Jacob Hoefnagel (1573 - c.1632), was a Flemish painter, print maker, miniaturist, draftsman, art dealer, diplomat, merchant and politician. He is noted for his illustrations of natural history subjects as well as his portraits, topographical views, emblems and mythological works.
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