25 ECU - Beatrix Emmeloord

Emmeloord is the administrative center of the Noordoostpolder, land that did not exist until it was pumped dry from the IJsselmeer between 1937 and 1942 — a reclamation project completed under German occupation, with the Dutch water authority continuing work almost without interruption through the war. The ECU series issued by the Netherlands in this period functioned as collector bullion rather than circulating currency, with the European Currency Unit itself a basket instrument that never achieved physical tender status in the Netherlands.