500 Gulden

De Javasche Bank, the colonial central bank for the Dutch East Indies, issued this high-denomination note during a period when the guilder was still firmly tied to the gold standard — the Netherlands maintained gold convertibility until 1936. At 500 gulden, this was not retail currency; it moved between institutions and served the substantial commodity trade flows, particularly in sugar, rubber, and petroleum, that made the colony one of the most economically significant in the world at the time.

Enschedé's work on Javasche Bank paper is consistently fine, and the Haarlem firm had printed for the bank across multiple series. The watermark security on this issue is relatively modest for a denomination of this size — later series would incorporate more sophisticated features before the Japanese occupation ended the bank's operations entirely in 1942.