Money From a Different Time
While visiting my family over Christmas, I found some cool items from the past. My parents' spare bedroom where I stayed also doubles as my dads office (or vice versa, I must be honest). Collecting coins and stamps has been a family hobby. My grandfather and now my dad collected many rare coins and stamps over the past decades. Although I haven't really taken the hobby serious, I do really enjoy looking at rare coins. I have collected some myself over the years.
During my stay in this office packed with treasures, I saw a neat stack of silver coins on the corner of my dads desk. I had a look and immediately got excited. It turned out to be some silver Dutch guilders from passed centuries. Five 2.5 guilder coins which we call Knaak to be precise. Here an overview:
The backside of the Guilder coins. Notice the second from the left is worth three guilders. Interesting denomination!
The heads of the Guilder coins in the same order.
As you can see these are from the 1800s and have a number of different rulers depicted. The first coin from 1808 contains the face of King Lodewijk Napoleon who was the brother of Napoleon I. The second coin is actually a three guilders coin and not a Knaak of 2.5 guilders. It has king Willem I depicted on it and was minted in 1823. Willem I was the first king of the Netherlands. The remaining coins are all from 1898 and depict the first Queen's face Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. All these royalties were once in charge of what is now the Netherlands.
Here are closeups of the head and tail of the 1908 silver Knaak with Wilhelmina on it:
While holding such coins in my hand my imagination always starts to run. Three generations of Kings. Family of Napoleon. What would these coins be worth back in the days compared to now. What kind of people used these coins and what was bought with them over the centuries.
It would be so exciting if one could trace back the coins' full history!
That is so cool, I often wonder if my grandfather would have such old coins in his possession as well. I love reading this type of stories and recently, I've been browsing for old coins (not just the Dutch) and hope to get my hand on some in the future.
A few weeks ago I was checking the boxes with coins on the flea market and found a knaak as well. I bought it for sentiment, not perse for a certain value as I Had no clue what it would be. The guy asked 1 euro per coin, so I let the others for what they were as they weren't Dutch so I had 0 knowledge, at least the Knaak held some sentimental value :)
!DHEDGE
Yeah it's fun! Did your grandfather also collect? I haven't checked my grandfathers collection for a very long time, but if I don't forget, I'll check it next time. IIRC he had some really old stuff there. Thanks for the comment, happy holidays!
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Your Father must have an amazing collection by now, I hope he can share some history and knowledge of what he has with you. My father often shared with me and his collection came into my hands since my other siblings didn't care much for it. The 1808 date puts your 2 1/2 Guilder coin square into the Napoleonic War.
I have a few old silver Guilders somewhere but I have yet to share them.
I hope you can share more silver coins like these in the future @michelmake
Yes, there's quite some cool coins in his books. I have to really go through them next time I'm there so that I can share them here! Napoleonic war indeed! Interestingly my girlfriend who is a paintings conservator worked on a famous Dutch painting of the battle at Quatre Bras by Jan Willem Pieneman. They moved this huge painting from the royal palace in the Netherlands to the military museum where they conserved it. You can see it here all in action: https://www.nmm.nl/en/waterloocrossroads/
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I groeide op met knaken, piek, stuivers en duppies. (Sorry ik heb een lees backlog)
Ha nice! Kom je uit NL?
Ja regio De Bilt woon ik. Maar vaak in het Spaanse 2e huis. Gestopt met werken al.
En ik ben diegene die zilveren maple leafs verkoopt voor 25 HBD elk. Heb er nog 33 (elk 1 troy ounce); Verzending per post.
Ah cool, en die verkoop je aan Hivers? Over de hele wereld?
Alleen Europa en Canada. In de US maken ze alles open en dan betaal je tax.