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50th Anniversary of the Netherlands Charter Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles were Dutch colonies for about three centuries. This changed in 1954 when under a new agreement they became self-governing states within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The “Koninkrijksstatuut” is best translated as the “state charter,” governing the relationship between the states in the Kingdom. When it was signed in 1954, the parties were the colonies of the Netherlands Antilles and Suriname. Suriname became an independent nation in 1975 and Aruba attained separate status as a state within in 1986.
The Netherlands changed its currency to the euro in 2002, but Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles held to tradition and kept the florin and the guilder. Each of the three is issuing a gold and a silver coin commemorating the anniversary identical in their technical specifications:
The gold pieces of 10 euros, guilders and florins are the same as the old Netherlands 10 guilder, Authorized mintage in proof quality is 5,000 for the issue of the Netherlands and 1,000 for each of the other two states. The silver ones (5 euros, guilders and florins) are limited to 30,000 coins for the Netherlands and 4,000 each for the others.
The Netherlands design represents the unity and diversity of the Kingdom. It conveys the message that the states speak in more than one language by rendering the legend around the portrait of Queen Beatrix, “Queen of the Netherlands,” in Dutch, Papiamento and English. An orange branch, symbolizing the House of Orange as the unifying element of the Dutch community is on the reverse surrounded by the names of all three states.
Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles chose traditional representations of Queen Beatrix for the obverse of their coins. Aruba’s reverse has the great seal of the Kingdom as its main element as this was used on the document after it was signed. The Netherlands Antilles coin shows three hands with pens working on the charter inscribing the word “Koninkrijksstatuut” in a triangle, the sides of which represent unity, harmony and equality.
Call for price and availability for the gold coins and the silver Aruba and Netherlands issues. |
