Catalog
50 Gulden 'Helmeted Minerva'
| Issuer | De Nederlandsche Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1929-1931 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Gulden (50 NLG) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| 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 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Multicolour geometric composition with intricate guilloche patterns and ornamental designs filling the entire field. Various issue dates appear on the reverse, ranging between 18.4.1929 and 31.5.1931, together with the printer's imprint and legal anti-counterfeiting notice. |
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| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
Jacques Jongert was an unusual choice for a banknote commission — he came primarily from poster and applied arts work, not the engraving tradition that dominated Dutch note design. The Helmeted Minerva series reflects that background: the composition is flatter and more graphically assertive than contemporaneous Enschedé output, closer in spirit to Dutch constructivist commercial printing than to classical intaglio banknote convention.
The series ran across a tight three-year window, 1929–1931, bracketing the onset of the Depression. Replacement demand stayed low; the Netherlands held to the gold standard through 1936, which kept monetary conditions contractionary and note turnover slow.