The long history of The Netherlands explains why the country has issued various Netherlands gold gulden coin forms in different sizes and weights since the debut minting of 1875. During the 1876 to 1889 reign of King Willem III, oversaw the minting of two types of the famous gold 10 gulden. After his death, her daughter, Queen Wilhelmina introduced the four other designs of the gold 10 gulden. The Netherlands gold gulden comes in 4 denominations of 1, 5, 10, and 20 gulden. The coins vary in features by denomination and issuance period.
For instance, the obverse of the 1875 gold 10 gulden coin bears the King Willem III’sM head portrait facing towards the right. Above and below the head are the inscriptions, “GOD ZIJ MET ONS” and “KONING WILLEM DE DERDE”, which are separated by two small stars at the middle on the right and left edges. The reverse contains a lion with a crown bearing arrows on a huge shield and arrows inside a bigger standalone crown. The inscription, “KONINGRIJK DER NEDERLANDEN” runs anticlockwise around the crown while the year appears at the top. The value of the coin, “10 G”, is split by the standalone crown in the middle, but inside the inscription.
The Dutch gold 1 gulden coin has a diameter of 25 millimeters and weighs 11 grams. It has gold content of 0.2652 and a purity of 0.750. The gold 5 gulden coin measures 18 millimeters wide and weighs 3.3645 grams. Its gold content is 0.0973 with a fineness quality of 0.900. The gold 10 gulden is 22 millimeters wide, weighs 6.7290 grams with a 0.900 gold fineness and 0.9147 t/oz of gold. The gold 20 gulden spans 26 millimeters in diameter and weighs in at 13.4580 grams. It has a gold content of 0.3894 t/oz with a 0.983 fineness.
The Royal Dutch Mint, which was established in 1567 and based in Utrecht is the exclusive mint of the Netherlands gold gulden coin. It is owned by the Dutch State in whole and was incorporated in 1994 as a private company. In 1999, The Queen awarded it the “Royal” prefix.
