The gulden — the Dutch guilder or florin — was a unit of account from 1434. For centuries trade settled in silver and gold. Amsterdam’s Wisselbank, founded in 1609, assayed metal, credited rijksdaalders, and required large payments to clear through the bank. That discipline stabilized the gulden and made it a de facto European reserve. The institute did not issue modern circulating notes; it collapsed after the Napoleonic wars.
Legal-tender paper began with De Nederlandsche Bank. On 25 March 1814 William I created the bank; Joh. Enschedé of Haarlem printed the first notes that same year. The red 25-gulden was nicknamed roodborstje. Between 1814 and 1838 the list was 25, 40, 60, 80, 100, 200, 300, 500, and 1,000 gulden. In 1817 the unit was decimalized. From 1846 the State added muntbiljetten. The bank resumed issue in 1904; in 1914, with silver scarce, the government issued zilverbonnen of 1, 2½, and 5 gulden.
After the May 1940 occupation the bank kept printing. On the 10-gulden, Emma gave way to a Rembrandt staalmeester. The government in exile, by royal decree of 4 February 1943, had the American Bank Note Company engrave Wilhelmina muntbiljetten for liberation. The Noord-Hollands Archief notes that, apart from wartime and immediate postwar exceptions, Enschedé printed almost all Dutch paper.
After the war Ootje Oxenaar designed portraits and then the nature series — zonnebloem, snip, vuurtoren. From 1990 Jaap Drupsteen replaced them with birds and abstract geometry. On 1 January 1999 the gulden became a subunit of the euro; euro cash circulated from 1 January 2002. The gulden ceased to be legal tender on 27 January 2002, at 2.20371 gulden to the euro. Most notes valid at conversion can still be handed in at DNB until 1 January 2032.
See the coinage history in Numismatics →
The catalog
Four chapters in one row, left to right by period: Wisselbank, De Nederlandsche Bank, occupation and liberation, and the changeover to the euro. Individual note pages will be published as they are documented, as in the Philippines case.
1609–1814
Wisselbank
The Bank of Amsterdam stabilized the metallic gulden; modern paper was not yet everyday legal tender.
The gulden — the Dutch guilder or florin — became a unit of account in 1434, under Philip the Good, on a par with the Italian gold florin. For centuries trade settled in silver and gold: stuivers, daalders, ducatons. In 1609 Amsterdam founded the Wisselbank to assay incoming metal, credit rijksdaalders, and require large payments to clear through the bank. That discipline halted provincial debasements and made the bank gulden a de facto European reserve. The institute collapsed after the Napoleonic wars. It did not issue modern circulating notes: paper from this period, when it appears, is deposit or emergency paper, not the legal tender of a national bank.
1814–1940
De Nederlandsche Bank
William I founded the bank in 1814; Joh. Enschedé printed the first Dutch note, the roodborstje.
On 25 March 1814 King William I created De Nederlandsche Bank. That same year Joh. Enschedé of Haarlem — which had already printed paper for the East and West Indies in 1810 — produced the bank’s first notes. The red 25-gulden, with musical ornaments, was nicknamed roodborstje, “robin.” Between 1814 and 1838 the bank issued 25, 40, 60, 80, 100, 200, 300, 500, and 1,000 gulden. In 1817 the gulden was decimalized into 100 cents. From 1846 the State added muntbiljetten — treasury notes — from 5 to 1,000 gulden. The bank resumed issue in 1904; by 1911 the list was 10, 25, 40, 60, 100, 200, 300, and 1,000. In 1914, with silver scarce, the government issued zilverbonnen of 1, 2½, and 5 gulden. In the 1920s the odd 40, 60, and 300 denominations ended, and the 20 (1926), 50 (1929), and 500 (1930) arrived.
1940–1945
Occupation and liberation
The occupied bank kept issuing; the government in exile had Wilhelmina muntbiljetten printed in New York.
After the German invasion of 10 May 1940, De Nederlandsche Bank kept printing. The most visible change was the 10-gulden: Queen Mother Emma’s portrait gave way to a detail from Rembrandt’s Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild — the staalmeester Volckert Jansz — on 1943–1944 issues signed by the imposed president M. M. Rost van Tonningen. The Noord-Hollands Archief notes that, apart from wartime and immediate postwar exceptions, Enschedé printed almost all Dutch paper. In exile, a royal decree of 4 February 1943 authorized muntbiljetten of 1, 2½, 10, 25, 50, and 100 gulden, engraved by the American Bank Note Company with Wilhelmina’s portrait, for liberation. The Enschedé archive also holds designs and proofs by Lion Cachet and M. C. Escher from those decades.
1945–2002
From guilder to euro
Oxenaar and Drupsteen designed the last series; euro cash arrived on 1 January 2002.
After the war the bank returned to 10, 20, 25, 50, 100, and 1,000 gulden. The 5 appeared in 1966 and the 250 in 1985. From 1964 to 1987 Ootje Oxenaar first engraved portraits — Vondel, Frans Hals, Sweelinck, De Ruyter, Spinoza — then the nature series: the zonnebloem 50, the snip 100, and the vuurtoren 250. From 1990 Jaap Drupsteen replaced them with abstract geometry and birds: ijsvogel, roodborstje, steenuil, and kievit. The Vondel 5 became a coin in 1988 and was withdrawn in 1995. On 1 January 1999 the gulden became a subunit of the euro; euro cash circulated from 1 January 2002. The gulden ceased to be legal tender on 27 January 2002, at 2.20371 gulden to the euro. Coins could be exchanged at DNB until 1 January 2007. Most notes valid at conversion can still be handed in until 1 January 2032; the Vondel 5 and Sweelinck 25 lapsed on 1 May 2025.
Sources
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De Nederlandsche Bank — History
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Founded in 1814; central bank and prudential supervisor of the Netherlands.
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Wikipedia — De Nederlandsche Bank
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Founded 25 March 1814. Part of the ESCB from 1 June 1998.
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Royal Joh. Enschedé — History of the printer
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1810: first note for the Indies. 1814: first Dutch note (roodborstje) for DNB.
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Noord-Hollands Archief — Enschedé banknote collection
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Enschedé printed almost all Dutch paper, with wartime and postwar exceptions; designs by Cachet and Escher.
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Wikipedia — Dutch guilder (history and banknotes)
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Wisselbank, 1814–1838 issues, zilverbonnen, occupation, Oxenaar and Drupsteen series, and the 2.20371 rate.
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Wikipedia — Banknotes of the Dutch guilder
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Table of 1950–2002 series and DNB exchange deadlines, including 1 January 2032.
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De Nederlandsche Bank — Exchanging guilder banknotes
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Rate: 1 euro = NLG 2.20371. Notes received as payment after 27 January 2002 are not exchanged.
- Bank Note Museum — Netherlands (siege, muntbiljetten, zilverbonnen, and DNB) (opens in a new tab)