Guilder

Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch gulden — from Old Dutch for 'golden'. The guilder originated as a gold coin (hence the name) but has been a common name for a silver or base metal coin for some centuries. The name has often been interchangeable with florin.

The guilder was used most in the Netherlands (as the Dutch guilder), until it was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2002. The Netherlands Antillean guilder is currently the only guilder which is in use, which after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles remained the currency of the new countries Curaçao and Sint Maarten and (until 1 January 2011) the Caribbean Netherlands.

One-and-a-half guilder was called a daalder (see thaler); two-and-a-half guilder was called a rijksdaalder. The word daalder/thaler is the origin of dollar.

• Current guilder:
  • Netherlands Antillean guilder (Curaçao and Sint Maarten).
• Former currencies in the Kingdom of the Netherlands:
  • Dutch guilder
  • Surinamese guilder
  • Netherlands Indies gulden
  • Netherlands New Guinean gulden
• Proposed currency in the Kingdom of the Netherlands
  • Caribbean guilder (Curaçao and Sint Maarten)
• Proposed (theoretical) currency in Austria, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden
  • North European guilder (in some parts of Europe)

Historical guilders or guldens:

• Austro-Hungarian gulden
• British Guianan guilder
• Danzig gulden
• South German gulden
• Rhenish gulden (florenus Rheni) issued by Trier, Cologne and Mainz (de:Rheinischer Münzverein)

Popular culture

Literature

• Guilder and Florin are two fictional nations in the book and movie The Princess Bride.

See also

Other coin names that are derived from the gold of which they were once made:

• Öre, øre
• Złoty
• Hungarian forint