2002 Sverige 50 kronor Carl XVI Gustaf, Astrid Lindgren, i kapsel, 0

Product information

Sweden – 50 Kronor 2002, Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002)

When Astrid Lindgren died in January 2002, her books had reached readers around the world. The stories of Pippi Longstocking, Emil of Lönneberga, Ronia the Robber’s Daughter and The Brothers Lionheart had made her one of the world’s best-known children’s authors.

Pippi Longstocking was conceived in 1941, when Lindgren’s daughter Karin was ill in bed and asked her mother to tell her a story about a girl with this peculiar name. It was only a few years later that Lindgren put the story into writing. When the book appeared in 1945, readers encountered a thoroughly unconventional heroine: a nine-year-old girl who lived alone, was stronger than any adult and had little regard for authority. Pippi challenged contemporary ideas about how children were expected to behave and eventually became an international symbol of independence and imagination.

Astrid Lindgren was also actively engaged in social issues. Her 1978 speech, Aldrig våld! (“Never Violence!”), became an important contribution to the debate on corporal punishment of children. The following year, Sweden became the first country in the world to explicitly prohibit such punishment in the home.

Sweden issued this 50 Kronor coin in 2002, the year of Lindgren’s death and what would have been her 95th birthday. The obverse features a portrait of the author with the dates 1907–2002. On the reverse, Pippi Longstocking is depicted running, with her monkey, Mr Nilsson, seated on the denomination.

The coin was struck in Nordic Gold, a copper-based alloy which, despite its name, contains no gold.

Sweden
Carl XVI Gustaf, 1973–
50 Kronor 2002 – Astrid Lindgren
Nordic Gold / 22 g / 36 mm
Royal Swedish Mint, Eskilstuna
Mintmaster: Urban Bäckström
SM 55 / KM 910