P.O.
Box 5343
Farmington,
NM 87499
(505)
326-5985
(561)
828-7993 fax
ANA Member - R 1178096
Our Commercial Site
World Coin Report Main Page
Email MS Coins
YES! We are buying! Email
us
to receive our current buy list
Submit
Your FREE
Classified
Ad To Our Site!
Submit
Your URL To Our
FREE
For All Links Page!
Give a Friend a Gift!
Send
A FREE
E-Greeting
Card!
Pick
Up Your
E-Greeting
Card!
Click here
to get or file reports on MS Coins
Click here and see our
weekly specials!
Check out our awards!
VISIT THESE COOL SITES
Egghead.com
Surplus Home Page |
Coins of the Netherlands
Many of the feudal lords of the Low Countries used a lion as their emblem
from the Middle Ages on. One of the earliest "lion" coins was the "Leeuwengroot"
(lion groat) of Brabant and Flanders, 1339, which imitated the French gros
tournois but substituted the lion of Flanders for the castle of Tours.
Later Dutch coins and jetons are referred to as depicting the lion of Flanders
or the lion of Holland. Durning the Dutch Revolt or the Eighty Years War
(1566-1648) the first major coin of the Dutch Estates was the Leeuwendaalder
(Lion Dollar), 1575+ featuring the rampant lion of Holland. Later coins
and jetons of the United Provinces depicted this lion flourishing a sword
and either holding a shield with the arms of a province, or holding a bundle
of arrows - one for each province in the union (eventually seven). This
became the official symbol of the Dutch Republic and later the Kindom of
the Netherlands. There are even maps with a lion superimposed on the country.
It was given a sword and colored gold to distinguish it from the Holland
lion (which is red) and to appoach it even closer to the shape of the country.
After the Napoleonic wars other ornaments were added, notably a royal crown
and eleven blocks, symbolizing the eleven provinces.
The Netherlands 2-1/2 Cent Piece
Minted exclusively at the Utrecht mint as evidenced by the staff of mercury
with snakes symbol by the date on the obverse) and about the size of a
U.S. quarter, the half stuivers, as they were called, were never very popular,
except for buying stamps and for use in the gas counters in private houses.
You could buy 1 cubic meter of gas with a plak (the most common nickname
for the coin). There is a series of city gas tokens of the size of the
half stuiver. To prevent the use of coins for the (more expensive) tokens,
many were executed with a semi-circle or triangle clip in the edge or a
central hole. Pretty soon, people would mutilate their half stuivers so
they would be accepted by the gas machine in emergencies. This would be
tolerated as long as they were immediately exchanged for a token when someone
came to empty the gas dispensing machine. At some time, newspapers were
also at 2-1/2 cents. During the second world war, the coins were demonitized
and not re- introduced afterwards as the half cent had fallen into disuse.
2-1/2 cent pieces were issued from 1877 through 1942 with no coins issued
1922 through 1940 and a design change in 1941. The very rarest issue is
1942. 200,000 pieces were authorized that year, but the entire issue was
melted down and only about 30 pieces are thought to remain.
Excluding the rare 1942 coin, a set in Fine can be put together for
around $120 US and, for the high quality collector, around $1000 US in
Uncirculated. The rare 1942 is listed in the Krause Standard Catalog
of World Coins at $650 US in Fine up to $9000 US in Uncirculated.
  2-1/2
cent design issued 1877 - 1922.
 
2-1/2 Cent design issued 1941 and 1942.
Many thanks to the collectors from the Coins@uni.edu listserv
for their help in my research.
Email us any information
you think is pertinent to either correct or round out the writings here
and I will be more than happy to post it. Thanks for reading!
 Join
our email lists. We currently offer 3 email lists: US Coins,
World Coins, and The Rare Coin Report. Subscription is FREE
and entitles you to special savings on new purchases and old favorites.
Fill out
our Request Form. If you are looking for that special coin and can't
seem to locate it, chances are good that we CAN! Put us to work for
you!
Were hot dogs ever made out
of dogs? What's so French about french fries? Answers to these
and more! Join the FREE Secrets
Revealed mailing by MailBits.com
Have a commercial
site you want to promote? Want 3,368,420 hits to your site for FREE?
Click for details!
No hidden charges, no strings.
Tell
your friends about us! We have great prices and great selections
24 hours a day, 7 days a week! Don't be afraid to share! There's
plenty to go around. |
