Whatsit Wednesday: A coin?

Years ago, before the euro entered Europe as the currency of every European country from the EU, each country had its own currency. There were German marks, French francs and British pounds. In the Netherlands, there were guilders. But it was even more interesting when you got to the coins. 

As in the United States, there were names for certain coins. In the US a 10 cent coin is called a dime. A 5 cent coin is called a nickel. And a 1 cent coin is called a penny. The 25 cent coin is a quarter, because it is a quarter of a dollar. I don’t remember if there was a name for the 50 cent coin - perhaps called a half-dollar - but I didn’t see it very often. 

In the Netherlands a 5 cent coin was called a “stuiver”, a 10 cent coin was a “dubbeltje” (literally a little double, although it was 1/10th of a guilder), As with the US coins, the Dutch also had a “kwartje” (a quarter) which was 1/4th of a guilder. A guilder in Dutch is a “gulden”. 

But it wasn’t just the coins that were named. The paper money also had various names attached. A 25 guilder note was called “geeltje” because it was yellow (“geel” is the word for yellow). The 50 guilder note was called a “zonnebloem” (sunflower) due to the picture on the note. The Dutch money was quite colorful and varied. 

Since the introduction of the euro, these names have all but disappeared. The 1 cent and 5 cent coins are rounded off in most stores, so they aren’t really in circulation. The 10, 20 and 50 cent coins are called simply by their denominations. And although the money is still somewhat colorful - the 5 euro is grey, the 10 is red, the 20 is blue and the 50 is orange or yellow -  the names have disappeared. This could also be because they needed to be simplified and unified for the multiple countries. The coins however still show specific people or places to the various countries. 

Whensday - Beginning of the Euro

We live on the border of two countries: Belgium and The Netherlands. We live in Belgium and the church meets in Maastricht, in the Netherlands. A river (which is 500 meters from our backyard) is the border. This means that we can shop in both countries with ease. The two countries sell different things and often have differing prices for the same things. Peanut butter is cheaper in The Netherlands than in Belgium, for example. 

When we first came to The Netherlands and Belgium in 1991 we had to make sure we had the right currency. I had to have a wallet with at least two section for the various bills from the two countries. I carried the coins from one country in the right pocket and those from the other country in the left. 

In 2000 that all changed when the Euro was finally implemented. A year before that our banks had been doing things in Euro as a sort of test. But the background and preparation for this change had been coming for a long time. The basis for the Euro was agreed on in the Maastricht Treaty on February 7,1992. At that time the 12 EU countries agreed on a common currency. We started meeting as a congregation in Maastricht this same month (which had nothing to do with this treaty, of course).

It took several years after the change in 2000 for us to get used to thinking in euro’s. The Belgian franc translated into 40 francs to 1 euro. The Dutch guilder was 2 guilders to 1 euro. We were constantly translating in our heads. But it was still quite clear that suddenly everything became quite a bit more expensive. A coffee that used to cost 2 guilders now cost 2 euro! 

But it has made things easier for travel. No longer do I need to carry around two different sets of coins or pay attention to which currency notes I am using. I can pay in any European country with the same currency and can easily transfer funds from one country to the next. The new century brought this new - what was it: ease or trouble? 

(Check out these Dutch coins. Yes, that is a 2 1/2 Guilder coin)