Dutch Guilder - History

History

The first guilder, a 10.61g .910 silver coin, was minted by the States of Holland and West Friesland in 1680. The original guilder design featured Pallas Athena standing, holding a spear topped by a hat in her right hand, resting with her left forearm on Gospels set on an ornate basis, with a small shield in the legend. This guilder was divided into 20 stuivers, each of 8 duiten or 16 penningen. The guilder gradually replaced other silver coin denominations circulating in the United Netherlands - florijn (28 stuivers), daalder (1½ guilders or 30 stuivers), rijksdaalder (2½ guilders or 50 stuivers), silver ducat (2½ guilders or 50 stuivers) and the silver rider ducaton (3 guilders or 60 stuivers).

Between 1810 and 1814, the Netherlands was annexed to France and the French franc circulated. After the Napoleonic wars, the Kingdom of the Netherlands readopted the guilder. In 1817 it became decimalised, with one guilder equal to 100 cents. However, it was not until the 1840s that the last pre-decimal coins (many of which dated back to the 17th century) were withdrawn from circulation, whilst some of the new, decimal coins continued to bear nicknames based on their values in the older currency system through to the 21st century. Until 1948, the plural of cent used on coins was centen, after that it was cent.

The Netherlands was initially on a bimetallic standard, with the guilder equal to 605.61 milligrams of fine gold or 9.615 grams of fine silver. In 1840, the silver standard was adjusted to 9.45 grams, with the gold standard suspended in 1848. In 1875, the Netherlands adopted a gold standard with 1 guilder equal to 604.8 milligrams of fine gold. The gold standard was suspended between 1914 and 1925 and was abandoned in 1936.

Following the German occupation, on 10 May 1940, the guilder was pegged to the Reichsmark at a rate of 1 guilder = 1.5 Reichsmark. This rate was reduced to 1.327 on 17 July of the same year. The liberating Allied forces set an exchange rate of 2.652 guilders = 1 U.S. dollar, which became the peg for the guilder within the Bretton Woods system. In 1949, the peg was changed to 3.8 guilders = 1 dollar, approximately matching the devaluation of the British pound. In 1961, the guilder was revalued to 3.62 guilders = 1 dollar, a change approximately in line with that of the German mark. Since 1967 guilders were made from nickel instead of silver.

In 2002, the guilder was replaced by the euro. Coins remained exchangeable for euros at branches of the Netherlands Central Bank until 1 January 2007. Banknotes valid at the time of conversion to the euro may still be exchanged there until 1 January 2032.