1 Gulden Silver Voucher

The silver vouchers (zilverbons) were introduced by the Dutch Ministry of Finance in 1916 as a direct response to the hoarding and melting of silver coinage that accelerated once the First World War disrupted metal supplies across Europe. The Netherlands remained neutral, but wartime commodity pressures were inescapable, and silver guilder coins vanished from circulation almost immediately. These notes were the pragmatic stopgap.

With over twelve million printed across the two-year run, survivors are not rare — but the small format made them vulnerable to heavy wear, and many were used hard before silver coinage eventually returned.