The New Most Expensive Dutch Coin Ever Sold

Wilhelmina, who was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890-1948, is now royalty of the numismatic realm. An 1891 Netherlands 25 Cents, or kwartje, sold for 1,045,000 EUR ($1,130,376) at HA-Europe, becoming the most expensive Dutch coin ever sold. Heritage Auctions Europe-Cooperatief is an affiliate of Heritage Auctions, the world’s leading auctioneer of coins and currency.

Lot 358: 1891 Netherlands 25 Cents. Estimate: 300,000 EUR. Result: 1,045,000 EUR.

The previous record for the most ever paid for a Dutch coin was 700,000 EUR ($757,190) paid in 2021 for an 8-fold gold rosenobel; the best result for a Netherlands Kingdom (1806-present) was the 200,000 EUR paid last year for an 1867 gold double ducat.

“This coin was the cover piece for our catalog, but we expected a hammer price between 300,000 and 400,000 EUR,” says Jacco Scheper, Managing Director of HA-Europe. “Nobody expected this world record.”

Bids came in quickly for the coin, which opened at 300,000 EUR before soaring to its record result in a matter of two minutes.

The 1891 quarter is considered the pinnacle of “Kingdom coins.” This record-setting example, which Scheper called “the Holy Grail for coin collectors” in RTL Nieuws, was the only one available on the open collecting market, and has had just four owners in the past century.

This continued a strong week for World and Ancient coins at Heritage, whose CSNS World & Ancient Coins Platinum Session and Signature® Auction brought $11,904,407 as part of Heritage’s Central States Numismatic Society auction events that reached a combined $52,341,143.