This type spans the years immediately before and through the First World War, during which the Netherlands maintained strict neutrality. That neutrality came at considerable economic cost — the Dutch guilder faced sustained pressure from wartime trade disruptions and Allied blockade policies that indirectly throttled Dutch commerce. Silver coinage of this period circulated heavily under those stresses.
The .640 fineness was set by the Dutch Coinage Act of 1901, a deliberate step down from the earlier .945 standard — a fiscal adjustment that quietly extracted bullion value from the monetary supply without a formal devaluation.
This type spans the years immediately before and through the First World War, during which the Netherlands maintained strict neutrality. That neutrality came at considerable economic cost — the Dutch guilder faced sustained pressure from wartime trade disruptions and Allied blockade policies that indirectly throttled Dutch commerce. Silver coinage of this period circulated heavily under those stresses.
The .640 fineness was set by the Dutch Coinage Act of 1901, a deliberate step down from the earlier .945 standard — a fiscal adjustment that quietly extracted bullion value from the monetary supply without a formal devaluation.