Milestones in the coinage of the Netherlands Antilles

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The Netherlands Antilles were a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of the island territories Aruba (not shown to scale compared with the other map), Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire. All of these islands are located in the Caribbean. They were also informally known as the Dutch Antilles. The country came into being in 1954 as the autonomous successor of the Dutch colony of Curaçao and Dependencies and was completely dissolved in 2010. In 1986 Aruba left the Netherlands Antilles and became an autonomous country.  All of the islands territories that belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the Kingdom today, although the legal status of each differs, and as a group they are still referred to as the Dutch Caribbean regardless of their legal status.The official language of the Netherlands Antilles were Dutch, English and Papiamento, a creole language  spoken on Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, that incorporates words from Portuguese, West African languages, Dutch, and Spanish. In 2009 The Netherlands Antilles had a population of 283,935 inhabitants.

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The capital of the Netherlands Antilles was Willemstad.

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The coat of arms of the Netherlands Antilles consisted of a shield, a crown and a motto. The shield depicted 6 stars which refered to the 6 islands that were part of the Netherlands Antilles. After Aruba left the Netherlands Antilles in 1986, one star was taken off the coat of arms. The motto of the Netherlands Antilles, that can be seen in the ribbon under the shield, was "Libertate Unanimus" which means "United in Freedom".

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The flag of the Netherlands Antilles too depicted 6 stars to refer to the 6 main islands and again 1 star was taken off in 1986 after Aruba left the Netherlands Antilles.

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In 1952 the Netherlands Antilles got their own 1 cent coin, the coins were the same as the ones that had been used in the Netherlands until 1943. The obverse depicts a standing lion while the reverse depicts the denomination between two bound orange branches. These designs were made by the Dutch designer Johannes Cornelis Wienecke.

 

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In 1954 1/4 and 1/10 guilder coins were introduced, the obverse depicted the portrait of Queen Juliana by Ludwig Oswald Wenckebach.

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Two years later, in 1956, a 2 ½ cent coin was introduced with the same designs as the previously issued 1 cent coin.

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In 1957 a square 5 cent coin was introduced which depicted a fruitful orange branch with patterns around it on the obverse while the reverse depicted the denomination with 4 shells in the corners with pearls between them. The designs were made by Johannes Cornelis Wienecke.

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In 1964 a 2,5 guilders coin was introduced, the design was the same as on the 1 guilder coin with a portrait of Queen Juliana by Ludwig Oswald Wenckebach and the coat of arms, denomination and date on the reverse.

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In 1970 the Netherlands Antilles for the first time issued a full series of coins. The obverse of the coins of 1, 2,5, 10 and 25 cent depicted the newly introduced coat of arms while the reverse depicted the denomination, 6 stars (referring to the islands) and an agave.  Interestingly the denominations on the 1/2 and 1/10 guilder coins were now depicted in cents and no longer in guilders.

The obverse of the coins of 1 and 2,5 guilders depicts the coat of arms of the Netherlands Antilles with on the reverse the effigy of Queen Juliana by Ludwig Oswald Wenckebach.

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The one cent coin.

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The two and a half cent coin.

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The ten cent coin.

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The twenty-five cent coin.