2 1/2 Gulden Silver Voucher

The Dutch "Zilverbon" series — of which this is the highest denomination — was authorized under the Zilverbonnenwet of 1914 as a wartime emergency measure, allowing the government to suspend silver coinage circulation while retaining a nominal link to silver. That the series persisted into the mid-1920s reflects how reluctant the Ministry of Finance was to retire a convenient and cheap-to-issue instrument, long after the emergency that created it had passed.

Pick 17 is notably scarcer than the 1 Gulden and lower Zilverbons of the same period. The 2½ denomination saw far less day-to-day handling — most transactions at that value defaulted to coin — so surviving examples tend toward the extremes: either uncirculated remainders or heavily worn street notes.