CURRENCY

The present day Kronenburgish Guilder ('Gulden' in Dutch) was approved by parliament in 1822. From 1822 to 1886 it was officially called 'Nieuwe Gulden' (New Guilder) so as to emphasize the difference to the old guilders that had been in simultaneous circulation since the first colonisation. The New Guilder was decimalized on the advice of king Willem IV and between 1822 and 1841, it was pegged to the Dutch guilder. 1 KG = 100 cents.

Before 1822
From the first colonisation of the islands that are now Kronenburg, various settlements issued their own currencies. As this made trade a bit complicated and was cause for lots of fraude, in 1838 a national authority was created that had to approve all circulating currencies and determine their respective values. Most settlements had variants of guilders, although in the areas that now roughly form the municipality of Groningen and the island of Koningin Marie-Louiseland used so called Kromstaarten and in the areas colonised by Danish settlers, Crowns were used.

Current coins and banknotes
The current division in eight coins and six banknotes has been existing since 1924. In that year the coins of 1 and 2.5 cents were abolished and the banknotes of 5 and 10 guilders were replaced by coins. Now there are coins of KG 0.05, KG 0.10, KG 0.25, KG 0.50, KG 1.00, KG 2.50, KG 5.00 and KG 10.00; there are banknotes of KG 25, KG 50, KG 100, KG 250, KG 500 and KG 1000. The current banknotes were designed in the eighties by Erwin Schutte. Between 1994 and 2002 they replaced the post-war banknotes that were issued between 1948 and 1953. All post-war banknotes remained in circulation to ten years after the new variants were issued; the old KG 250 note was taken out of circulation in 2010, whilst the old KG 25 note is the last one to be definately replaced by the new one in 2012.

The obverse sides of the coins all contain the text 'Koninkrijk Kronenburg' (Kingdom of Kronenburg). On the 50 cent coin, the text is put around a hole that characterises the coin. On the 5, 10 and 25 cent coins is additionally the royal coat of arms depicted, whilst the 1, 2.5, 5 and 10 guilder coins have the image of the king, including an abbreviation of his name. As of 2011, new coins with the image of king Ernst I Frederik (EiF) were minted for the first time. Coins with the images of king Alexander IV Lodewijk (AivL), Alexander III Ernst (AiiiE) and Willem V Hendrik (WvH) are still in common use; coins with queen Marianne (M) are becoming rare and no coins were minted with the image of king Jan II, due to his short reign.

The reverse sides of the coins have their values written on them as well as the year in which the coin was minted, as well as the official logo of the Royal Mint.

The obverse sides of the banknotes all have two images: the first is a portrait of a famous Kronenburger, the second is a watermark depicting an animal that is not necessarily indigenous to Kronenburg. The notes have been criticized especially by women, as all the people that are on the notes, are men.

The watermarks are also visible on the reverse side of the notes, next to the royal coat of arms and the first verse of the national anthem. Further, the written value of the note is repeated several times and the initials of the Royal Kronenburg Bank (KKB) are mentioned. On the old notes, the text 'De Koninklijke Kronenburgse Bank betaalt aan de toonder van dit biljet de som van [value of the note]' (The Royal Kronenburg Bank pays to the bearer of this banknote the amount of [value of the note]) was written; for the new notes it was decided to leave that out.

Banknotes (specimen without signatures)