Guilder dies to cries of long live the euro

At the stroke of midnight, the Dutch guilder ceased to be legal tender last night and instantly became a museum piece of interest only to coin collectors and historians.

Its spectacularly low-key demise makes the Netherlands the first European country to phase out its national currency in favour of the euro, a move that will be repeated across the eurozone between now and the end of February.

Few mourned the guilder's passing yesterday. Although it was the end of a 776-year-old era and Europe's political elite has achieved what the German army tried and failed to do in occupied Holland during the second world war, the overwhelming sentiment appeared to be one of extreme indifference.

Hiskia van Hooff, a tourist information official in Utrecht, said: "I really don't care about losing the guilder because we've got new money and it feels like we're on holiday."

A request on the BBC website for people to write in with their memories of the guilder solicited a pitiful number of responses. Those who did bother to express themselves did so without emotion.

"The Dutch, if nothing else, are a people of trade. We've never been able to resist looking over our borders to learn about others and find profitable ways of doing business with them. Hence we've never been reluctant to have our wallets filled with foreign currency, and today's popularity of the euro amongst the Dutch highlights this," wrote Peter Verbeek.

"The departure of the guilder is not a bitter one."

Mark Litgenstein was equally unsentimental: "I have always loved our colourful Dutch money _ but the guilder as a national symbol, that's rubbish. We Dutch are a practical, down to earth people. Having the euro is just very practical."

In Utrecht, the seat of the Royal Dutch Mint, "a mintmaster" has been producing coins since the 10th century. But there is little nostalgia to be found there now.

"Nobody cares," a television cameraman shooting at the mint for an evening news bulletin, said.

"Two months from now young people won't give the guilder a second thought and in a year or two they will say "the guilder - what is that?'."

The euro was conceived in the Dutch city of Maastricht in 1991 and the president of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Wim Duisenberg, is a Dutchman. Analysts believe these factors helped the Dutch embrace the euro.

Erik van Schouwenburg, director of operations at the Dutch mint, believes that the government's decision to give everyone over the age of five a free starter kit of euro coins was also crucial in selling the single currency .

"It has been a fantastic success," he enthuses. "The only problem has been the press, which has been looking for problems but found none."

The mint's gift shop has souvenirs for those who feel mildly sentimental about the currency's demise, including cufflinks and watches made from obsolete coins.

For €4.94 (£3) the nostalgic can own what is billed as "the last guilder" - a shiny silver coin minted last November which has Queen Beatrix's head on one side and a schoolchild's rendering of the Dutch heraldic lion waving goodbye to the guilder on the other.

Perry Bosman, editor of a book called De Laatse Gulden (The Last Guilder), is one of the few people who does feel a sense of loss. "It was part of our national identity and in giving it up we have lost a part of our identity. The euro is not ours, it is everybody's."

But his is a lone voice. Mention loss of sovereignty and national identity to most and they simply shrug their shoulders.