A new 5-guilder banknote featuring Vondel

In 1973, Dutch designer Ootje Oxenaar completed the Erflaters II banknote series with a striking new 5-guilder note featuring poet Joost van den Vondel. This made Oxenaar the only person ever to design a 5-guilder note – twice! So what happened?

Why a second Vondel note?

Oxenaar’s first 5-guilder note, issued in 1966, was intended as a final addition to the earlier Erflaters I series, originally designed by Eppo Doeve in the 1950s.

But DNB soon decided to launch a completely new series: Erflaters II. These updated banknotes needed to meet modern standards for mechanical processing, including uniform height and machine-readable numbers (OCR). Oxenaar was commissioned to design the entire series, which included:

the 10-guilder Frans Hals note (1968)
the 25-guilder Sweelinck note (1971)
the 100-guilder De Ruyter note (1970)
the 1,000-guilder Spinoza note (197

The 1973 Vondel note was the final piece, allowing Oxenaar to unify the series with a consistent graphic style.

Hidden messages and playful details

Like its predecessor, the reverse side of the Vondel II features the Amsterdam Theatre. But look closely – with a magnifying glass – and you’ll find two hidden surprises: Above the columns, to the left of the temple, is the phrase Hy schenckt nu zuur nu zoet (“One full of good, the other full of ill”), a line from Homer’s Iliad as translated by Vondel. It’s the second half of a verse; the first half appeared on the original Vondel note: Twee vaten heeft Iupijn (“Two barrels in his cellar Jove has still”). In the temple’s tympanum, the name Ootje is subtly embedded – a mischievous hallmark of the designer, also found on the 1,000-guilder Spinoza note (1972).

Vondel's croquette

At the bottom right of the reverse, Oxenaar added four tactile dots – nicknamed “Vondel’s croquette” – to help visually impaired users identify the note by touch. Originally intended as separate raised dots, they were joined into a bar for better fit and function.

A short-lived note

Despite its innovative design, the 5-guilder note had a relatively short lifespan. Issued from 1966 to 1988, it was eventually replaced by a coin due to durability issues – the paper notes wore out quickly from heavy use. The new 5-guilder coin, designed by Bruno Ninaber van Eyben, entered circulation in 1988 and remained in use until 1995.

The 1973 Vondel note was signed by DNB president Jelle Zijlstra and circulated from 14 June 1976 to 1 May 1995. It can no longer be exchanged for euros.