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LOCAL Friday 25 OctOber 2024

Did you know about...?

The history and meaning of the Aruban florin

(Oranjestad)—Aruba Today is tains a variation of colorful bills,
proud to officially introduce a new displaying incredibly detailed and
segment called Did you know beautiful designs that tell the story
about…?, where we dive into some of Aruba on a single piece of pa-
(historical) facts of Aruba, its cul- per.
ture and way of living. In this first
edition, we look back at the Aru- Prior to 2019, the Aruban Florin bills
ban florin: its history, design and were relatively simpler in design
symbolism. compared to now, but still included
beautiful designs and colors, often
In Aruba, we know the 5, 10, 25 depicting local animals. These past
and 50 cent coins, along with the designs were made by the Aruban
1 and 5 Florin coin. Aruban Flo- artist Everino Fingal in 1990 up to
rin bills include the 10, 25, 50, 100, 2019. Between 1990 and 1993, the
and rarely, the 200 bills. In Papia- 5 Florin coin was a bill. The Fingal
mento we call our currency Florin, designs also included a 500-Florin
but the umbrella term for money is bill, which has now been discontin-
placa. Cents are called cen (pro- ued.
nounced: seng), both in the singu-
lar and plural form. Most coins are In 2019, the Central Bank of Aruba ruins of the Bushiribana Gold Mill lands), Cangreu di tera (land crab),
circular and their size depend on commissioned a new design of the Ruins, a coral motif, and the sym- Willem III Tower, and again the
their worth. However, the 50 cent Aruba Florin bills, this time select- bols of Cas Floria (traditional Aru- symbols of Cas Floria with a piece
coin is easily recognizable by their ing artist and former art teacher, ban house design) with a piece of of mosaic, as well as a beach plant
square shape, as is the 5 Florin coin Nigel Matthew, to present his new mosaic. called Banana di rif. The colors are
by their golden color. Every coin design. Matthew kept the tradition pink/purple.
has the Aruban emblem carved of including local animals and the 25 florin
on it, with the other side displaying familiar colors on the bills. Howev- On this orange bill, you can see 100 florin
the worth of the coin. The bigger 1 er, he included additional designs an Aruban medicinal plant called This bill is green in color, repre-
and 5 florin coins, however, con- that represent the Aruban culture Shoshoro. The birds Trupiaal, Sho- senting nature. Here we see the
tain the carving of the emblem on and link to the Indigenous inhabit- co, rock drawings, and the symbols Yuwana (Iguana), Aloe, Toteki (liz-
one side, while displaying the side ants that were the first to set foot of Cas Floria with a piece of mo- ard), the symbols of Cas Floria with
profile of the Dutch king, Willem-Al- on the island. saic are also depicted. There is also a piece of mosaic, and a dance
exander, on the other side. When a Purun di ceramica (clay pot), in group performing the Baile di cinta
his mother, Princess Beatrix, was Current design and symbolism reference to the relics left behind (forkloric dance with silk ribbons).
reigning queen, it was her profile 10 florin by our indigenous ancestors.
that was carved on the two coins. On the 10-florin bill, you can see a 200 florin
Turtuga blanco (white turtle). The 50 florin There is another bill with a value of
Outdated Aruban coins and their blue color symbolizes the blue Ca- On this bill, we see the Cododo 200 dollars. The brown color sym-
names ribbean Sea. You can also see the (blue lizard found on the ABC is- bolizes the earth of Aruba. Here
In the past, Aruban coins had dis- we see the Dornasol and the War-
tinctive names and also varied in awara—both local birds, along
worth. For example, a 5-cent coin with the symbols of Cas Floria with
was once called Dos placa; 10- a piece of mosaic, the Tuna cac-
cent coins were called debchi; tus plant, and the Caha di orgel
25-cent coins were called diez (folkloric instrument, used for many
placa and the 50-cent coin was traditional songs).
once called Yotin (pronounced:
jo-teen). We also used a distinc- Extra fact:
tive coins worth 2 ½ cents, called the word “florin” supposedly is
placa too. However, this last coin is named after the Italian city of
no longer in use and has become Florence or it’s a reference to the
a relic of Aruban money. Back Italian word “florino”, both expla-
then, the 5-Florin coin used to also nations related to historical Italian
be square, but now it is circular. currencies.q

Aruban bills: their design and Source: Placa, placa, placa by the
symbolism National Library of Aruba
The Aruban Florin collection con-