The Royal Dutch Mint (, abbreviated ) is a company founded in 1567 that is responsible for producing, among others,

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

coins for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is currently located in

Houten Houten () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. Population centres The municipality consists of the following towns: * 't Goy * Houten * Schalkwijk * Tull en 't Waal Houten (town) The main town in the municipality i ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, where it moved to in 2020. It was established and previously owned by the Dutch State, but is now owned by HM Precious Metals.

History

On 17 September 1806, when the Netherlands was under the rule of King

Louis Bonaparte Louis Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French c ...

, he decided that the striking and distribution of coins should be by a single, national body. This was in contrast to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

custom of large trading cities having their own mint and coins, which resulted in several coins circulating within the country, and many levels of controlling bureaucracy. Originally, it was planned for the mint's seat to be located in the capital city of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. Since there was insufficient funding, the national mint's seat was located in Utrecht. After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, the Kingdom of the Netherlands was founded, and

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

became king of the Netherlands. The mint was renamed to'' 's Rijks Munt''. What is now Belgium was a part of the new kingdom, and a second Mint was located in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. When Belgium gained independence in 1839, '''s Rijks Munt'' became the only mint in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The provincial coins that had been minted before the unification of the Mint were still in circulation. Due to their relatively high intrinsic value, the "new" coins would gain popularity over time. In 1849 the provincial coins were officially taken out of circulation. In 1901 the company was placed under the supervision of the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

, and in 1912 the mint officially became state-owned. In 1944, nearing the end of the German occupation during the Second World War, coins were produced in the United States. This was necessary to ensure that there would be enough currency available after liberation. In 1994'' 's Rijks Munt'' was renamed to ''De Nederlandse Munt''. It became a company, 100% of whose shares were owned by the Dutch State. The Queen awarded the company the prefix

Koninklijk (, Dutch for 'royal') is an honorary title given to certain companies and non-profit organisations in the Netherlands and to a lesser extent Belgium, by the monarchs of each country. It was first introduced by Louis Bonaparte in 1807, then Kin ...

(Royal) five years later, and the company was now allowed to call itself the ''Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt'' (Royal Dutch Mint). On 22 November 2016 the Royal Dutch Mint was sold to Heylen Groep, and later to HM Precious Metals. On 1 April 2020 the Royal Dutch Mint moved to their current location in Houten, closing their historic location in Utrecht. The new building has greater production capacity and is more secure. The building is based off of the pattern of the geometric portrait of king

Willem-Alexander Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born 27 April 1967) is King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest ch ...

, which is pictured on the euro.

Production

Since 2002, the Royal Dutch Mint has been allowed to strike coins for foreign national banks in the euro zone, and occasionally strikes coins for other countries such as

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

and

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. Furthermore, the Royal Dutch Mint produces commemorative coins, collectible coins, medals and royal decorations. The Royal Dutch Mint was also delegated the task of destroying the old guilders after their replacement by the euro in 2002.

References

External links

Official website
(in English)
About the Royal Dutch Mint
(in English) {{authority control 1806 establishments in the Netherlands Companies established in 1806 Government-owned companies of the Netherlands Companies based in Utrecht (province) Mints of Europe Organisations based in the Netherlands with royal patronage Rijksmonuments in Utrecht (city) Organisations based in Utrecht (city) 1567 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Neoclassical architecture in the Netherlands Louis Bonaparte William I of the Netherlands Coins of the Netherlands

History

Production

See also

References

External links