Kolonie Veenhuizen, huismunt geslagen op last van de Maatschappij van Weldadigheid ter waarde van tien cent 1818 - 1859

Curator: Well, isn’t this just the most curious little thing? A coin, almost rudimentary, you might say, dated somewhere between 1818 and 1859. It’s a ‘Kolonie Veenhuizen’ coin, residing here at the Rijksmuseum. The metal, worn smooth… feels weighty with untold stories. Editor: My first thought? Controlled economies, social engineering, and… what's the human cost? That brassy color feels like enforced uniformity to me, not some free-market glimmer. Curator: Ah, but perhaps seeing it solely as "enforced" misses the point? This was currency issued by the ‘Maatschappij van Weldadigheid’ – The Society of Benevolence. It aimed to rehabilitate the poor, almost like a grand social experiment, offering them a chance at redemption. I imagine these coins clinking in calloused hands, buying simple sustenance. There is a certain poetry to it. Editor: Benevolence can be a euphemism, though. The 'Society' sought to "improve" lives, sure, but within strict moral and economic frameworks. These weren’t just unfortunate souls—they were deviant populations, 'fixed' through labor. Was it really "redemption," or coercion disguised as charity? I see the letters ‘K•V’, suggesting an insular system—an economic walled garden where your purchasing power depended on… obedience. Curator: Obedience isn’t perhaps the worst of words to conjure. Order? Security? Imagine a landscape where survival is never certain. Even the simple exchange of goods for these coins—a predictable transaction—might foster hope, community? Editor: I’m suspicious of any "community" that arises from systematic control, particularly a system based on forced labour, such as the colonies managed by the Society of Benevolence. What of the freedom to fail, the right to choose one's path, however difficult? Was dissent ever paid for with this currency, or just compliant toil? I guess what gets under my skin is how a promise of "benevolence" could facilitate social management, reinforcing class structures, under the guise of care. Curator: See, and this is precisely why I find it captivating. An object so seemingly simple, sparking such complex and uncomfortable questions. Even a mundane object holds such depth. Editor: Indeed. It really highlights that what presents as altruism and progress often comes with tangled threads of control and social power. We really must stay inquisitive.