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Ferdinand Tollin

Swedish writer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ6212703 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ferdinand Tollin (8 March 1807, Gävle - after 1856, probably in Switzerland) was a Swedish inventor, engineer, painter, illustrator and writer.

Biography

He was born to Olof Tollin, an itinerant merchant. His family was very poor and much of his primary education was financed by friends and other relatives. After graduating, he went to Uppsala, where he earned a law degree in 1831. He then became a clerk in the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeals. Upon moving to Stockholm, he was hired by the Sveriges Riksbank. Soon, he became bored and disillusioned with his duties, ignored his work, and began to give drawing and painting lessons.

He also invented a device for printing sequential numbers on banknotes, which he patented in 1835. The Riksbank purchased a prototype of the device, but claimed that it failed to work properly and, in 1838, demanded a refund, which forced him into bankruptcy. After that, he supported himself by providing illustrations for magazines.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ferdinand Tollin” as swedish writer. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1807, 1856, 1831, 1835—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1807-01-01, 1808, 1807-03-08—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. The account is most persuasive where Ferdinand, Tollin and Swedish can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as swedish writer. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6212703. VIAF identifies the subject as 24579826. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1807, 1856, 1831 and 1835.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ferdinand Tollin”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ferdinand Tollin primary sources, Ferdinand Tollin archive and Ferdinand research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ferdinand Tollin”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ferdinand Tollin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.