Aruban Coins

My wife and I just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary down in Aruba and while we were there, I convinced her to go with me to see Aruba's Numismatic Museum.

The museum was in a fairly decent part of town, but as we walked up, we got the strange feeling that nobody was home, nor had there been anyone there for some time. I actually started to get bummed out, because I had been really looking forward to this little visit. Once we approached the door, there was a sign that said please push buzzer for entrance.

We were greeted by the curator of the museum who worked there by himself. His father-in-law was the person who started the museum over 50 years ago and was a very well respected and honored person on the island. He had passed away several years ago, and he had decided to keep the museum open and try to follow in his footsteps.

You could tell that a lot of time had been put into building the museum. It was not the Smithsonian by any means, but given the location and apparent lack of interest on the island, it was still impressive. Although I was expecting a museum filled with coins dating back to the 16 and 1500's, there was much more to be seen. They had put together a worldly collection of all coins and paper currency. So even though you had a small section of the museum dedicated to Aruban numismatic history, there was even a larger portion that was filled with coins from all over the world. Of course I was thoroughly impressed with all the early silver and gold from the Spanish and Portuguese armadas. All the way in the back of the building was this gentleman's work station. He had surrounded himself with numismatic books and magazines from all over the world. He was proud of this as he was digging through showing me his Standard Catalogs of World Coins and many issues of the Numismatist along with other numismatic publications. He was basically teaching himself from scratch.

He had these wonderfully built display cases where there was a glass top, then about 10 drawers underneath that when pulled out exposed other glassed covered sections that were filled with coins. Each one of these display cases were nicely labeled with each country of origin. It was basically a Standard Catalog of World Coins up close and personal.

Anyway, it was a pleasant tour and I could tell that my wife had been ready to leave 5 minutes before we even got there, so we said our good buys and left. Here is a bit of advice to anyone..... when doing something like this.....make sure you do it alone unless of course your significant other is really into coins, then thats ok. I wish I had more time to spend there, because there was so may neat things to look at. So it gives me something to look forward to if I ever travel down there again.

It wasn't until afterwards that my wife asked me why I didn't take any pictures inside. I told her that they probably weren't allowed, but we never did see any signs. So I have two pics for you. Sorry. But please stay tuned for part 2 of my story.

 

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Part 2

Well, as a gift to myself for putting up with my wife for 10 years, I bought myself a few presents! She didn't like that joke too well. :hammer: Right down the road from the Numismatic Museum was the National Bank of Aruba. Although Aruba functions as an independent country, they are still a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, therefore, all their currency is minted and printed in the Netherlands. When that currency comes in, it comes into the National Bank of Aruba and then dispersed from there. You actually had to go to this bank and purchase any numismatic items from Aruba. The security was not as bad as if you were going to the US mint, but definitely tighter than if you went to you local bank. I bought two sets of coins, both of which are displayed below. Its getting kinda late, but if anyone wants the history on any of these coins, I will be more than happy to share it when I get a chance. Thanks for looking.

 

Sorry, ran out of space. Here is the last coin.

 

Cool thread. I was in Aruba a few years ago. How far off of the path is the money museum? I celebrate ten years this Aug. Thanks for giving me an idea on were to celebrate it at.

 

Thanks for the report, I have been meaning to visit this museum for some time, good to hear it was of interest.

 

Tater, the museum is directly behind the bus terminal downtown in Oranjsted. I don't know how long the terminal has been there or if it was there when you visited last, but it is not far off the beaten path. Its just a block back off the main road. We then took the bus to the National Bank which is a few miles down the road. Once again, the bus stop drops off directly in front of the bank so it was very easy access.

If you decided to go to Aruba, you won't be sorry you did. Great food, good prices, friendly people. We are definitely going to visit again..... just not this year.

 

When you do visit, please bring me!!!

 

Thank you for a interesting write up and you got some rather nice coins as well by the look of them :hail:

 

Thanks DeOrc!

Also, just some more info. The island accepts US currency and aruban currency. I was actually quite amazed on how these vendors can do the math in their heads to figure out what change to give back to you. Most shops had their registers divided into two halves.... one for US currency and the other for Aruban currency. What became really confusing is when they would pay you half back in US currency and the half in Aruban currency. Their currancy system is based on the Florin. 1.77 Florin = roughly $1 US dollar. We were told a quick way to determine US prices was to take the Florin price, subtract half and then add 10%. Never really used this conversion because US currency appeared to be the main currency nearly everywhere.

Oh one other thing.......THEY DON'T USE THE PENNY IN THEIR CURRENCY!!!! Everything was rounded to the nearest 5. How about that?! :kewl:

 

Loved the post Jaceravone. I was just invited to a wedding in Aruba, yesterday, that will be sometime in 2010. I hope I can afford the trip. If I go, I will have something else to look forward to. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

I'm curious how this museum sustains itself.

I'm sure that any CoinTalk people that read this thread & visit Aruba will undoubtedly go to the museum. Thanks for letting us know about it.

Do you know if it is privately held or is it subsidized by the government? Did they charge an admission or accept donations?

Very best regards,
collect89

 

The sign says $5 P.P.

 

so when you go into this bank, do you just walk up to the teller and say "I'd like to purchase some numismatic items from Aruba"? I may want to do this and it would be helpful to know what to ask for.

 

tell me more about the coins you bought, i'm going down in aug. i've been many times but didn't even know about the museum.

 

I hope you can too!!! It is a very nice place.

The sign says that it is supported by Aviation Securty Worldwide, but I don't know. Like Pennywise pointed out, there was a $5 charge per person and then they had a donation box. As far as I am aware and based on the converstation I had with the owner, it is privately owned by his family. I also told the owner that I will find some new 2009 US coins for his collection and put them in the mail to him.

First, you go through a security gate with security guards stationed there. I told them I was here to buy some coins and they directed me to a door on the side of the bank. We tried to go in the front door of the bank because we didn't see the side door at first. The front doors are opened by the security guards behind a glass booth in the lobby. Once in the lobby, you need security access to go anywhere else. It looked more like an office building with cubicals than a tradional bank. The guards were super nice and showed us around the side entrance. There you have to push a buzzer for them to let you in. You are now standing in a small area about 4ftx4ft. Just big enough for both my wife and I. There you are talking with the teller on the other side of the glass and you tell him what you are wanting. Here is the site that I downloaded. http://www.cbaruba.org/cba/readBlob.do?id=1319 (The site has apparently been updated since I downloaded it because I did not see the 2009 coins. Had I known that I could buy them, I would have.) Then they show it to you through the glass. I didn't like that because I like to hold it in my hand and look at it myself, but I didn't ask otherwise. I bet they would have let me look at it if I had asked, but being the first time there, i didn't want to get anyone mad. They totaled it up in both Aruban and US currency. I paid in US currency

This part I will be more than happy to do, but it will have to wait until tonight when I get home from work. For the one set of coins I purchased, I had to use the Google translator to figure out what it said because it was in Dutch and I have that at home on my personal computer.

The nice thing about these coins is that they typically have mintages less than 2000. One coin that I purchased has a mintage of 1500 and the other two have mintages of 1000.

 

Thanks for the very descriptive writeup. Very informative. I will definitely try to visit the museum and bank if I ever make the trip.

 

http://www.cbaruba.org/cba/getPage.do?page=NOTES_AND_COINS_COMMEMORATIVE

Here is another link directly to the bank. I just found this and did not see this prior to my trip. Wish I had though.

 

http://gocaribbean.about.com/od/topfiveattractions/gr/ArubaNumismatic.htm

Here is another link that I did not see prior to my trip, but just found.

 

http://www.visitaruba.com/facts/general/money.html

Here is one other site that those of you who are thinking about visiting the island may find useful.

 

Last but not least.... this is the site that everyone who is interested in this topic should visit. I have not seen this site before until tonight. Exactly as I remember it.

http://gocaribbean.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=gocaribbean&cdn=travel&tm=181&f=00&su=p284.9.336.ip_p531.50.336.ip_&tt=4&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http://www.museumaruba.org/