Catalog
20 Gulden Coin Note
| Issuer | Kingdom of the Netherlands (Ministry of Finance) |
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| Year | 1846 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed note in green and white, with an ornate guilloche border running along all four edges incorporating diamond and oval motifs, and denomination numerals "20" at each corner. The central field carries the large spaced letterpress title "MUNT- BILJET" above the statutory text issued pursuant to the law of 18 December 1845, Staatsblad No. 90, with the place and date "'s Gravenhage 1 Januarij 1846" and a manuscript signature of the Minister of Finance below. A secondary panel at left bears the registration legend "Geregistreerd voor TWINTIG GULDEN, Register Lett. C" alongside a legal notice referencing the Nederlandsche Bank, all printed in the same green ink on a cream paper ground. |
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| Protection description | RIJKS MUNT watermark, appearing as circular medallion devices in the paper |
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| Comments |
The Dutch "muntbiljet" — coin note — was a mechanism for substituting paper for silver coinage during periods of metal scarcity, issued by the Ministry of Finance rather than the central bank, which gave it a different legal standing than ordinary banknotes. The 1846 series predates De Nederlandsche Bank's monopoly on note issue, and these denominations circulated alongside specie in a monetary system still transitioning away from the bimetallic standard.
The April 1945 print date is striking: the Netherlands was still under German occupation, liberated only days later in May. Whether this printing was intended for post-liberation restocking or was already in preparation by a government-in-exile operation is a question the date alone cannot answer.