After the nazi invasion, the Utrecht mint continued minting pre-war coins with the mark of Dr. Van Heteren, the mint master. The nazis believed they could win over queen Wilhelmina and convince her to return. It became clear very quickly that this hope was vain. For this reason, it was decided to prepare a series of totally new coins. Other measures included removing the word "royal" from names of companies and institutions, including the national coin collection and the mint. Van Heteren's mark may have been omitted for the same reason.
The new series was designed by a member of the Dutch nazi party NSB: Nico de Haas. Production had already started and a considerable number of coins had already been minted when three of the five coins were rejected by Hitler's representative, Reichskommisar Seyss-Inquart. He disliked the holes on the 1 and 2½ cents and was of the opinion that the symbol of the tree with three crowns was not Germanic, but kitsch. The stock of coins was destroyed, only a few specimen escaping the melting pot.
The coins are therefore neither patterns nor trials, but rather a cancelled business issue.
Peter
