2 1/2 Gulden - Louis Napoleon

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte — installed as King of Holland by his brother in 1806 — proved a genuinely troublesome vassal. He learned Dutch, sided with his subjects over French trade interests, and resisted the Continental System so obstinately that Napoleon dissolved the Kingdom of Holland outright in 1810, annexing it to France. This coin therefore belongs to a monarchy with a four-year lifespan.

The gulden coinage Louis issued drew on established Dutch weight and fineness traditions, a deliberate concession to local commercial confidence. His reign produced relatively few coin types, making the 1808 dating one of only a handful of years this denomination was struck under his authority.