Netherlands ½ gulden 1912 - Queen Wilhelmina

The coin's story

This half guilder (½ gulden) in 945 thousandths silver belongs to the series struck from 1910 to 1919 in the name of Queen Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina became queen in November 1890, on the death of her father William III, her mother Emma acted as regent until she came of age, and she was inaugurated on 6 September 1898. She reigned until 1948. The portrait, which shows the queen as a bust with an ermine mantle and a diadem, is the work of Johannes Cornelis Wienecke, chief engraver of the Utrecht Mint. The reverse bears the crowned arms and the legend MUNT VAN HET KONINGRIJK DER NEDERLANDEN (Coin of the Kingdom of the Netherlands). The 1912 date was struck in 4,000,000 pieces at the Utrecht Mint, under the mintmaster Copius Hoitsema.