Suriname P116d 1 Gulden 1974—Muntbiljet—Henck Arron—in album page

Banknote Characteristics

• Pick no.: P-116d
• Varieties: P-116d — signature of Henck Alphonsus Eugène Arron without printed name at right (distinguishing it from P-116c, which carries the printed name)
• Color: Obverse: dark-green with black text on pale olive-green and brown underprint. Reverse: brown and green.
• Front: Building of the High Court (former Ministry of Finance) with white clock tower on Independence Square, Paramaribo; national flag; denomination and issuing text in Dutch
• Back: Ornamental pattern design; text of Article 260 of the Surinamese Wetboek van Strafrecht (Penal Code) concerning forgery and misuse of banknotes; serial number with two letters and 5 digits; denomination and legal tender text
• Watermark: Not specified
• Composition: Paper
• Size: 129 × 73 mm
• Issuing entity: Government of Suriname
• Printer: Royal Joh. Enschedé (Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé), Haarlem (1703–date)
• Demonetized: Yes
• Signatures: Henck Alphonsus Eugène Arron — Minister of Finance (1973–1977); signature in facsimile without printed name
• Currency: Surinamese Guilder (1826–2003)

About Suriname

• Capital: Paramaribo (city pop. ~240,000; metro ~280,000)
• Population: ~640,000 (UN 2023) — similar to Wyoming or Luxembourg
• Area: 163,820 km² (63,252 mi²)
• GDP per capita at PPP: ~$16,000 USD (IMF 2023) — ranks ~105th out of 193 globally
• Main exports: Gold, oil, timber, alumina, bananas, shrimp
• Borders: Guyana (west), Brazil (south), French Guiana (east), Atlantic Ocean (north)
• Official languages: Dutch (~100% as official; spoken natively by ~60%)
• Spoken languages: Sranan Tongo (~lingua franca, spoken by ~80%), Sarnami Hindustani (~27%), Javanese (~15%), Saramaccan and other Maroon creoles (~10%)
• Sovereignty:
  • Indigenous peoples (pre-1498) — Arawak, Carib, and other groups
  • Spanish and British colonial claims (1498–1667)
  • Dutch colony — Suriname (1667–1954) — plantation economy built on enslaved African and indentured Asian labor
  • Autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands (1954–1975)
  • Independent Republic of Suriname (1975–date) — this note issued during this period

Suriname Unfiltered

• Suriname is the only country in South America where Dutch is the official language — a colonial legacy that makes it a linguistic island on a continent of Spanish and Portuguese speakers.
• More than 35% of the population descends from indentured laborers brought from British India and Java after the abolition of slavery in 1863 — making Suriname one of the most ethnically complex nations on earth relative to its size.
• Roughly 90% of the country is covered by intact Amazonian rainforest, one of the highest forest-cover ratios of any nation.
• The 1980 military coup led by Dési Bouterse ended civilian rule; in 1982, fifteen opposition leaders were executed in what became known as the December Murders.
• Sranan Tongo — the street creole that blends Dutch, English, Portuguese, and West African languages — is more widely spoken day-to-day than Dutch, despite having no official status.

What Is a Muntbiljet?

A Muntbiljet — literally “coin note” in Dutch — is a government-issued paper note that substitutes for a coin of the same denomination. Unlike banknotes issued by a central bank, a Muntbiljet is issued directly by the Ministry of Finance, backed by the state rather than a banking institution. The concept was common in the Netherlands and its territories when small-denomination coins were scarce or impractical to mint in sufficient quantities.

Suriname’s Muntbiljet series ran from 1961 to 1986, covering the 1 Gulden denomination across nine signature varieties (P-116a through P-116i). Each variety reflects a change in the Minister of Finance — making the series a quiet chronicle of Surinamese political history across independence, coups, and economic upheaval. The notes were printed throughout by Royal Joh. Enschedé in Haarlem, one of the world’s oldest and most respected security printers.

What’s on This Note

The obverse is dominated by the Building of the High Court — formerly the Ministry of Finance — with its distinctive white clock tower on Independence Square in Paramaribo. The Surinamese flag flies alongside it. The text is entirely in Dutch, identifying the note as a Muntbiljet of one Gulden, issued under a country regulation of April 8, 1960, and registered in Paramaribo on November 1, 1974. The printer’s imprint — Joh. Enschedé en Zonen, Haarlem — appears at the bottom.

The reverse carries an ornamental pattern and the full text of Article 260 of the Surinamese Penal Code, warning against forgery and misuse of banknotes — a legal deterrent printed directly onto the note itself. The serial number uses two letters and five digits.

The P-116d specifically bears the facsimile signature of Henck Alphonsus Eugène Arron, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance from 1973 to 1977 — the man who led Suriname to independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands on November 25, 1975. On P-116d, his name does not appear printed beside the signature, distinguishing it from the otherwise identical P-116c. With 60 million notes printed, it is by far the most common variety in the series — yet UNC survivors are increasingly scarce.

Own This Document of Surinamese Independence

A 1 Gulden Muntbiljet signed by the man who took Suriname out of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The building on the front was his ministry. The law on the back was his government’s. Issued in 1974 — one year before independence — this small green note sat at the intersection of colonial administration and a new republic finding its footing.

One Gulden. One building. One signature. One country, just becoming itself.