These 25 guilders dated 2012 were issued when the Netherlands Antilles no longer existed as a country: the union of islands was dissolved on 10 October 2010. Curaçao and Sint Maarten kept the Antillean guilder, and the notes went on being printed in the old design, bearing the name of the Bank of the Netherlands Antilles, until the switch to the Caribbean guilder in 2025.

The star of the front is the flamingo. The bird series was drawn by the Curaçao artist Oscar Ravelo: it appeared in 1986, after Aruba left the Antilles, and each denomination from 5 to 250 guilders received its own local bird, while the back of every note carries the bank’s seal emblem.

In 1998 the bank strengthened the security features and the series appeared in a second edition: the most obvious novelty is gold foil on the front, which comes out black on a photocopy. Held to the light, the note shows a watermark with the bank’s emblem, and small sparkling dots are scattered along the top and bottom of the back.

For a «birds on banknotes» topical collection it is an entry chosen by the series’ own designer, and for a Netherlands Antilles collection it is a 2012 note that outlived the country whose name it bears. UNC condition means the note has never circulated: no folds, no wear, no soiling, even corners — just as it left the press.

You can find companions for this banknote, by series or by year of issue, in the VPcoins catalogue.