Nederlandse cent, 1821 1821

This is a bronze, one cent coin from 1821, designed by Willem I, King of the Netherlands. Consider the implications of a monarch designing currency. Willem I, a figure of authority and privilege, imprints his initial under a crown onto this everyday object. This coin embodies a specific intersection of power, identity, and everyday life. Who did this cent benefit and who did it exclude? This coin tells a story about the creation of a national identity in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars, of a desire to stabilize a new economic order, and of the role of a monarch in shaping the economic realities of his subjects. Consider how objects like this coin are not merely neutral tools for transactions, but also symbols of power and belonging.