2 1/2 Gulden - Juliana Coin note

The "muntbiljet" — coin note — was a Dutch institution rather than a wartime improvisation. The Ministry of Finance, not De Nederlandsche Bank, had statutory authority over this denomination, a jurisdictional split rooted in nineteenth-century monetary law that persisted well into the postwar decades. These notes circulated alongside actual coins as legal tender for small transactions, filling the perpetual gap between paper money and coinage.

Enschedé had printed Dutch currency from their Haarlem premises for generations, and the quality of intaglio work on this series reflects that continuity. The 1949 dating places this issue in the early years of Juliana's reign, following her September 1948 accession after Wilhelmina's abdication.