The stuiver was a
coin
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order ...
used in the Netherlands, worth
Dutch Guilder
The guilder ( nl, gulden, ) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from the 15th century until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro.
The Dutch name ''gulden'' was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning "golden", and reflects the fact that, ...
s ( 16 ''penning'' or 8 ''
duit'', later 5 cents). It was also minted on the
Lower Rhine region
The Lower Rhine region or Niederrhein is a region around the Lower Rhine section of the river Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany between approximately Oberhausen and Krefeld in the East and the Dutch border around Kleve in the We ...
and the
Dutch colonies. The word can still refer to the
5 euro cent coin, which has almost exactly the same diameter and colour despite being over twice the value of the older coin.
Netherlands
The ''Stüber'' emerged from the ''vierlander'' ("coin of four provinces"), that
Philip III of Burgundy
Philip III (french: Philippe le Bon; nl, Filips de Goede; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonged ...
had minted from 1434 as a common denomination for
Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to:
Place names in Europe
* London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany
Belgium
* Province of Bra ...
,
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...
,
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former Provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...
and the
Hainault (''Hennegau'') and which had a value of
Rhenish ''gulden''. It corresponded to 3 Brabant ''Plakken'', 2 Flemish ''
Groten'', 16 Dutch ''pfennigs'' or 1
Artesian ''schilling''. The name "stuiver" derives from the Dutch ''stuiven'' ("flying sparks"), since on early Flemish ''stuivers'' "spark-producing
flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start ...
s of the
Collar of the Golden Fleece" were depicted.
Twenty stuivers equalled a ''
Dutch Guilder
The guilder ( nl, gulden, ) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from the 15th century until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro.
The Dutch name ''gulden'' was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning "golden", and reflects the fact that, ...
.'' It circulated until the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...
. In 1818 the Netherlands decimalised its guilder into 100 cents. Two stuivers equalled a
dubbeltje - the ten-cent coin.
After the decimalisation of Dutch currency, the name "stuiver" was preserved as a nickname for the five-cent coin until the introduction of the
euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
in 2002.
The word can still refer to the
5 euro cent coin, which has almost exactly the same diameter and colour despite being over twice the value of the older coin.
Holy Roman Empire
The ''Stüber'' (abbreviation: ''stbr''.) or ''Stüver'' was a small ''
groschen'' coin that was minted in north-west Germany, especially in the territories of today's
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
and in the
County of East Frisia
The County of East-Frisia ( Frisian: Greefskip Eastfryslân; Dutch: Graafschap Oost-Friesland) was a county (though ruled by a prince after 1662) in the region of East Frisia in the northwest of the present-day German state of Lower Saxony.
Cou ...
roughly from the end of the 15th century to the early 19th century.
On the
Lower Rhine
The Lower Rhine (german: Niederrhein; kilometres 660 to 1,033 of the river Rhine) flows from Bonn, Germany, to the North Sea at Hook of Holland, Netherlands (including the Nederrijn or "Nether Rhine" within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta); ...
, these coins mostly had a value of
''albus'' or 16
''hellers'', in
Cleves
Kleve (; traditional en, Cleves ; nl, Kleef; french: Clèves; es, Cléveris; la, Clivia; Low Rhenish: ''Kleff'') is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century ...
, 21 ''hellers''. One ''
Rechnungstaler'' corresponded to 60 ''Stüber''.
European colonies
From 1660, the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
(VOC) began to strike copper stuiver coins for local use in
Dutch Ceylon
Dutch Ceylon ( Sinhala: Tamil: ) was a governorate established in present-day Sri Lanka by the Dutch East India Company. Although the Dutch managed to capture most of the coastal areas in Sri Lanka, they were never able to control the Kandyan ...
. At first, the coins were simply stamped on both sides with their denomination but from 1783, the VOC monogram and date were added. The coins were minted at
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
,
Jaffna,
Galle and
Trincomalee
Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...
. These coins were issued till British occupation in 1796.
The stiver ( si, තුට්ටුව) was a currency denomination (
Ceylonese rixdollar) in use across the 18th and 19th century Sri Lanka and Caribbean, especially among the Dutch,
Danish, and
Swedish islands. It was also a denomination that formed part of the currency system of
Demerara-Essequibo
The Colony of Demerara-Essequibo was created on 28 April 1812, when the British combined the colonies of Demerara and Essequibo into the colony of Demerara-Essequibo. They were officially ceded to Britain on 13 August 1814. On 20 November 1815 the ...
(later
British Guiana
British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana.
The first European to encounter Guiana was ...
, now
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
).
In the British colonies, a stiver had a value of
twopence.
The currency was also mentioned in the famous poem by
Robert Browning
Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical sett ...
, The
Pied Piper of
Hamelin
Hamelin ( ; german: Hameln ) is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont and has a population of roughly 57,000. Hamelin is best known for the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
...
: "With you, don't think I'll bate
ebate concerninga stiver! And folks who put me in a passion may find me pipe after another fashion."
Austria
The name ''Stüber'' was also considered for a coin that would have been a sub-division of the
Austrian Schilling
The schilling (German: ''Schilling'') was the currency of Austria from 1925 to 1938 and from 1945 to 1999, and the circulating currency until 2002. The euro was introduced at a fixed parity of €1 = 13.7603 schilling to replace it. The schil ...
introduced in 1924; In the end, however, the name ''Groschen'' was chosen.
Literature
* Heinz Fengler, Gerhard Gierow, Willy Unger: ''Numismatik''. Berlin 1988.
* Helmut Kahnt: ''Das große Münzlexikon von A bis Z''. Regenstauf 2005.
* Hans Spaeth: ''Der Münzfund von Kirchhellen. Ein Beitrag zur Systematik des Emmericher Stüber''. Kreß & Hornung, Munich, 1941.
See also
*
5 Cent WWII (Dutch coin)
The zinc 5-cent coin was minted in the Netherlands between 1941 and 1943 during World War II. It was worth 1/20, or .05, of the guilder, and designed by Nico de Haas, a Dutch national-socialist
The Nazi Party, officially the Nationa ...
*
5 Cent 1948 (Dutch coin)
The respective total mintage of the Stuiver 1948 was: 25,000,000, struck in Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located i ...
External links
Obverses and reverses
{{Shilling
References
Coins of the Netherlands
Five-cent coins
Dutch words and phrases
History of Guyana
Currencies of Sri Lanka
Currencies of Guyana