25 guilder Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck 1971

The twenty-five guilder bill with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was part of the daily business until May 1, 1995. A 25 guilder bill, also known as a "yellow note" in popular parlance, has a picture of composer and organist Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck on the front. This bill was first put into circulation on December 15, 1972, and circulated simultaneously with its predecessor, the twenty-five guilder bill from Huygens.

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was born in 1561 and is primarily known for his reputation as a composer and organist. In addition, he was also a music educator and improvised pieces for the (church) organ. He is therefore known worldwide for his works on the organ and book prints of his (vocal) works were already made in Europe during his lifetime.

Testators in the 1970s

The twenty-five guilder bill is onderdeel van de serie erflaters van de bekende ontwerper R. D. E. (ook wel Ootje) Oxenaar. De serie was in volledig revolutionaire stijl ontworpen, en dit is dan ook te zien in de felle kleuren en abstracte vormen op het biljet. 25 gulden Sweelinck is gedrukt in de kleuren oranje, rood en roze en heeft een patroon van lijnen, rasters, guilloche en blokken. Hierdoor kreeg het biljet een modernistische uitstraling. Naast het vijfentwintig guldenbiljet werden er bij de serie erflaters nog vier andere bankbiljetten uitgegeven:

• Five guilders Joost van den Vondel (Poet) 1966/1973;
• Ten guilder Frans Hals (Painter) 1968;
• One hundred guilder Michiel de Ruyter (admiral of the Dutch war fleet)1970;
• Thousand Guilders 1972 Baruch Spinoza (Philosopher).
  
  
  

Revolutionary design

The bills were from low to high in the colors olive green for the five guilder, topaz/sapphire blue. for the ten guilder, brown for the hundred guilder and emerald green for the thousand guilder a unique series at the time. Old guilder bills therefore had a unique style, which therefore did not resemble the other currencies such as the French franc, German mark, Austrian schilling, English pound Whether the Belgian franc. Because the bills were given such bright colors, they were more difficult to reproduce than the other bills already in circulation. They also contain jokes by the designer, such as Oxenaar's fingerprint, which can be found in the left hair lock of Spinoza (the thousand guilder note). In addition, a fingerprint can be found on the ten guilder banknote featuring Frans Hals. The banknote also came out in 2 variants, among others. Namely 10 and 11 digit serial number.

Because the yellows were widely used in payments back in the day, the bills are now hard to find in nice quality. Thus unused copies even inspected by an appraisal/inspection company called PMG-notes, where authenticity and quality are determined. These bills are then placed in a strong plastic container to protect them.

The value of a "yellow" today.

A 25 guilder bill featuring Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was exchangeable for euros at the Dutch Bank until May 1, 2025. Although many people still exchanged the bills, some copies are worth more. This does depend on the quality. For example, a completely unfolded, unwritten and uncreased 25 guilder bill from 1971 may fetch more in some than the 11.34 the Dutch Bank gave for it until May 1, 2025.

Consequently, the legacy series slowly became known worldwide as one of the finest series of banknotes of the time. And the guldens are therefore collected worldwide to this day. Also at David-Coin you can go for guilder banknotes of the latest series. From 5 guilders to 1000 guilders and also other types such as emergency money, ship money school money, etc.

Selling guilder bills?

Do you have old guilder bills that you want to sell for euros?
Please feel free to contact with us and find out the value of your old paper guilder bills.