Catalog
2 1/2 Gulden
| Issuer | Curaçaosche Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1892 |
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| Size | 220 × 110 mm |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CURAÇAO, 1892. Goed voor f 2.50. Nº1239 Curaçaosche Bank TWEE GULDEN, VŸFTIG CENTEN betaalbaar op vertoon aan Toonder bÿ de directie van de Bank te Curaçao Goed voor TWEE GULDEN, VŸFTIG CENTEN in specie. Hamilton Bank Note Co., New York (Translation: CURACAO, 1892. Good for f. 2.50. Nº1239 Curacao Bank Two Gulden, fifty cents payable on presentation to Bearer at the management of the Bank in Curaçao Good for Two Gulden, fifty cents in specie. Hamilton Bank Note Co., New York) |
| Reverse description | Uniface reverse, left entirely plain except for two manuscript signatures applied by hand in ink. The upper signature appears in an elaborate cursive hand with pronounced flourishes, while the lower signature is rendered in a bolder, more upright script. No printed design, vignette, or text appears on this side. |
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| Comments |
The Curaçaosche Bank was established in 1828, making it one of the oldest colonial banking institutions in the Western Hemisphere. This 1892 note predates the bank's reorganization under Dutch government oversight and was issued under its original private charter — a distinction that affects both its legal standing at the time and its relative scarcity today.
Hamilton Bank Note Company handled a significant share of Caribbean and Latin American currency printing in the late nineteenth century, competing directly with American Bank Note Company for colonial contracts. Their New York output for Dutch colonial issuers is considerably rarer in the market than comparable ABNCo work.
The 2½ gulden denomination reflects the Dutch monetary tradition of the "rijksdaalder" fraction, retained in colonial coinage and paper alike long after it had faded from metropolitan use.