Want to buy Dutch guilder coins or notes? One company's problem is your chance ...

When the euro cash was introduced almost four years ago, a Dutch music store chain ("Free Record Shop") prominently advertised that customers could pay using guilder (NLG) coins and notes even after the end of the dual cash period. Now the company sits on a bunch of worthless cash.

The Dutch central bank DNB had repeatedly refused to change the guilders from these stores into euro cash. A week ago the Raad van State (highest administrative court in NL) decided that the bank's position was right.

While NLG coins and notes can be exchanged into euro cash until 2007 and 2032 respectively, that offer is limited to individual customers. Also, the DNB will only accept NLG cash that the customer had before the deadline. Of course you cannot actually tell when exactly somebody acquired this or that coin or note, but I guess the idea was to prevent excessive money laundering. This Dutch regulation is unique in Euroland.

Well, now the company has a problem - lots and lots of "worthless" guilder cash. And what does it do? It sells the coins and notes as, ahem, souvenirs:
http://www.freerecordshop.nl/shop/home/guldenwissel.asp

Click the image at the bottom ("Doe je oma, je vrienden ...") to view what you can order. Don't think they actually mail the cash, though, so you would have to pick it up at one of their stores.

Christian

I wonder if the coins and notes are available from their stores here as well? I would not mind picking up some of those nice looking banknotes.

Interesting. My bank didn't take guilders at all of after 2002.

I guess they'll get their money back, eventually...

From what I know about this, you order them online and then pick your order up at one of their stores. But if you are interested, why not send them an e-mail message? Or maybe Erik knows whether they can simply be purchased in the FRS stores. Problem is, they would still have to get from NL to FI somehow ...

Christian

Which bank exchanges what money varies from bank to bank, I suppose. In Germany, for example, the DEM ceased to be legal tender on 1-Jan-2002 but commercial banks, just as most businesses, accepted DEM cash until the end of February. Since that time, only the German central bank would (indefinitely) change DEM cash into EUR, at its branch offices or via mail. However, various business advertise from time to time that "we also accept Marks", usually for some limited period of time. That is a convenient way of getting rid of small amounts of old cash while for the store it means additional promotion and hopefully sales.

(There are very few banks, such as GWK in the Netherlands or GFC in Germany, which still exchange pre-euro cash provided that in the country of origin it can be changed into euros. The ReiseBank in Germany, for example, stopped doing that last month since hardly anybody used the service.)

In the Netherlands, most commercial banks would exchange NLG cash into EUR until the end of December 2002. Since 1-Jan-2003 you have to use one of the four DNB offices or exchange the cash via mail. The "sneaky" part about the Dutch regulation is that only individual customers can exchange NLG into EUR. Also, you have to sign some form where you state that you were in possession of the guilders before late January 2002 (which is when the NLG ceased to be legal tender). Don't think there is a way to actually control this, as I wrote - but maybe the DNB and the Dutch government hope that fewer people will then actually exchange their old money?

The company (FRS) could get most of its money back if it succeeds in selling the old coins and notes off. Going to court will be difficult ...

Christian

Hopefully no one else has so much cash in the old "worthless" currency

I mean, that would hurt really bad if you have any more than 100euros worth of such...

Not yet, but there's a store in the city where I work, so I'll have a try, tomorrow after work.

History proofs that that's not the biggest issue