Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Gulden
| Issuer | Bank van Curaçao |
|---|---|
| Year | 1855 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 161 × 103 mm |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Printed in black on plain paper with an ornate typographical border enclosing the text. The face value of five gulden appears at lower center, with the bearer clause and issuing authority inscribed in Dutch within the central field. The note carries the date 1855 and bears manuscript authorizing signatures, with various signature varieties known. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | De bankbiljetten van dit model, in het jaar 1855 vervaardigd en op den 27. Augustus 1854 uitgegeven, zijn op den 10. December 1879 ingetrokken en door anderen vervangen van dezelfde waarde. Curaçao, Willemstad, 16 December 1899. De Administrateur v. Financiën, Voorzitter van de Bank, (Translation: The banknotes of this model, manufactured in the year 1855 and issued on 27 August 1854, were withdrawn on 10 December 1879 and replaced by others of the same value. Curaçao, Willemstad, 16 December 1899. The Administrator of Finance, Chairman of the Bank,) |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Bank van Curaçao was established in 1828, making it one of the earliest chartered banks in the Dutch Caribbean. By 1855 the island's economy ran largely on trade rather than agriculture, and paper currency circulated alongside Spanish-American silver coins that remained deeply embedded in local commerce. A 5 Gulden note from this period would have been a meaningful sum in that environment.
Surviving examples from this early Bank van Curaçao series are extremely rare. The tropical climate of the Dutch Antilles was brutal on paper, and redemption drives after later currency reforms eliminated most of what circulation hadn't already destroyed.