The authentic piece of paper money in our collection is an assignat dating from the period of the French Revolution. This was a security paper issued during the French Revolution with expropriated church property as collateral. It had to serve as money to pay off the debt. The French government issued far more of these papers than was responsible. Its value fell sharply.

The riots at the beginning of the French Revolution had driven out the tax collectors. In all the chaos, the regime was unable to set up a new tax administration in time. Current expenditure and interest on the national debt were therefore not paid. To avoid bankruptcy, it was decided to confiscate all church property. The priests would henceforth receive a salary if they remained loyal to the Republic.

You can't put all that property on the market at once without reducing the yield to a fraction of its true value. The sale was therefore spread over a few years. In the meantime, securities were issued with the church property as collateral. These papers served to pay interest and repayments of the national debt. As the sale of the church property progressed, the French state would buy back the assignats from the holders. Assignats were issued in 1000-franc notes. At the time, this was 1 or 2 annual salaries of a worker.

Confidence in the securities was not very high. The state was in serious financial trouble, so it was decided from April 17, 1790, that the assignats would be valid means of payment. The finance minister was so strongly against it that he resigned. The revolutionary government itself circulated more assignats than matched the value of the confiscated church property. Between 1790 and 1793 the assignat lost 60% of its value. Robespierre tried to maintain the value by imposing the death penalty if the assignat was not accepted as a means of payment. Within 6 years, 10 times the value of church property was in circulation. When they were withdrawn from circulation in 1796, the owner was paid 1/30 of the value. Many people lost money while the assignats saved France from financial ruin.

A craftsman made the first glasses for the nose in Italy. Still, in 1285, the monk Alexander del Spina took the credit. Spina lived and worked in St Catherine's Monastery where he died in 1313. Spina wholeheartedly shared his skill and knowledge with anyone willing to learn. The first glasses are not called glasses and consisted of two glasses set in separate frames that were 'stapled' together by a nail. This made it possible to unfold the glasses as a compass and to place them unstable on the nose.

Underwired glasses were developed in the 15th century and were sturdier. The monocle appeared in the 16th century and lasted for a long time. It wasn't until 1727 that someone fitted the glasses with arms (= temples) for behind the ears. The design by the English Edward Scarlett was not a direct success.

During the 18th and 19th centuries the chic lorgnettes (with one leg) and the binocles-ciseaux (in the shape of scissors) were popular, coquettish glasses suitable for the opera. The eyewear trade was primarily a Jewish affair. This industry was not protected by guilds. Jews were excluded there. Eyeglass makers regularly went into the country to sell their glasses. In 1777 the “optician” Wolff announced his arrival in the Dutch “Middelburgse Courant”. He promised that if vision continued to deteriorate, glasses once purchased could be exchanged for stronger ones free of charge.

Pince-nez, which viciously pinched the nose, came on the market in the 19th century. The glasses were worn with reluctance. He was associated with the loss of youth and physical strength. The glasses became a symbol of the intellectual.

In the 20th century, more and more people started wearing glasses. Because the importance of reading increased. In the past there were only a few, who flattered glasses. The genteel pince-nez increased the respect. In general, glasses were regarded as something that one unfortunately had to put on. The carrier found himself disabled, according to the Dutch newspaper, “Limburgs Dagblad” in 1937.

During the 20th century, in the Netherlands and Belgium, the term “spectacles Jew” was first an indication for a spectacles seller. It became a term of abuse for the glasses-wearing person. A phenomenon became the cheap health insurance glasses, a simple round frame with large lenses, which were reimbursed by health insurance funds. It was the most worn model for a long time. Those glasses radiated intellectuality and were popular in wide circles. Certainly, during the 1960s, when the singer John Lennon made the health insurance glasses the glasses of the rebellious youth.

Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge terror group, had spectacle wearers executed en masse in Cambodia, from 1975-1979, because he regarded intellectuals as enemies of the people.

Meanwhile, glasses have become a fashion accessory in the 21stt century. People with good eyes wear them without hesitation, of course with normal glasses. A woman with a somewhat stiff frame is an attractive appearance for many men.

The Westerveld crematorium, in Velsen in the Netherlands, was inaugurated on April 1, 1914. Vaillant, “eminence grise” of the Association for Facultative Cremation, had expressly recorded the burning of his body in his will. The obituary stated his funeral on March 30. A grave had already been dug, but the people came for nothing that day. He would be cremated at Westerveld. Although burial was compulsory, the Minister of Justice promised not to intervene. Those responsible were acquitted at a trial.

It was not until 1931 that the first crematorium was established in Uccle, in Belgium. Despite Catholic resistance, in 1932, a change in the law made it possible to burn the dead. In 1933, the ovens in Uccle are lit. This happened with the burning of a neatly boxed dead calf that was given to the flames under the watchful eye of a dozen mayors and aldermen from Brussels. Arthur Hirsch, lawyer, was the first cremated human being in Belgium.

The explicit obligation to bury in the Netherlands was abolished in 1955.

Jan Frans Alowies Ceulemans indicated in his codicil for cremation. He was the very first resident of Boom (Belgium) to opt for this. His sister, who was a nun, as a Catholic, did not agree with that last wish. She turned to the bishop of Mechelen, who granted dispensation. Her brother could be escorted out of the Boomse Heilige Hartkerk, according to Catholic rites. This example from 1961 indicates that positions were slowly shifting. In the Netherlands, too, we see a cautious acceptance in the General Reformed Synod that no longer excludes cremation.

The ban on cremation was lifted at the Second Vatican Council in 1963. The percentage of cremations in the Netherlands was 13,7% in 1970 and significantly lower in Belgium. Until 1991, however, the presence of a codicil (= will), unlike burial, was compulsory. Around 2017, the share for cremation was roughly 60% for both countries.

From the 17th century it became possible to make slightly larger windows. The stained-glass windows were replaced by rod window glass: larger panes of glass in a wooden frame together made a window. The diamonds got bigger and the rods smaller.

The Crystal Palace in London, a structure built for the Great Expo in 1851, was built in a Victorian style from cast iron, wood, and glass. It showed that large glass constructions were possible.

A Belgian invention by Emile Gobbe in collaboration with Emile Fourcault made the rods disappear in 1905. They managed to pull a flat glass plate directly from a liquid glass bath onto a belt without the glass deforming. This made it possible to produce long-length continuous flat glass in an industrial manner. Emile Fourcault, glass manufacturer, commissioned the "Verreries de Dampremy" in Charleroi, which was a world first with these flat glass machines in 1914. The architecture of “Het Nieuwe Bouwen” (= “the new Construction”) set the tone after WWI. Functionality with large areas of glass was the credo. The Glaspaleis (= Glass Palace) in Heerlen, the Netherlands, by Frits P.J. Peutz, architect, in 1935.

Improved production methods after WWII made it possible to enlarge the windows in private houses. In the Netherlands, the "doorzonwoning" (= “full-day residence”) was created, a house "with a lot of glass".

Another quality improvement came when the Pilkington Brothers company in St. Helens, England, introduced the "float" process in 1959. Molten glass is poured onto a layer of liquid tin, after which it is drawn endlessly horizontally on a track.

In 1965 the Dutch singer Wim Sonneveld sings "With a lot of glass, then you can see how the sofa looks at Mien and her dresser with plastic roses" in the song "Het Dorp" (= “The Village”). It refers to the phenomenon of "doorzonwoning" (= “full-day residence”) This trend has already passed at the end of the 20th century. Under the influence of energy savings and intimacy, the large translucent window has been exchanged for a more environmentally friendly type. Glass has become "high tech". Glass still plays an important role in modern architecture.

The Chinese restaurant began to gain momentum after WWII. This was the result of: The return of thousands of Dutch soldiers and returnees from the former Dutch East Indies. They knew the Chinese restaurants from the former colony and appreciated the food. This was responded to by putting typical Indonesian dishes on the map and by presenting itself as a 'Chinese-Indonesian restaurant'.

The breakthrough came when the rest of the Netherlands discovered the Chinese en masse due to the rising prosperity during the 1960s. For many Dutch people, cheap Chinese food was their first introduction to eating out. The flavors were further adapted to Dutch cuisine. Bami and nasi goreng were the best. The number of Chinese restaurants grew rapidly. That success was also reflected in a new Dutch snacks. The traditional Dutch fried rice and bami ball sees the light, a wonderful variation of the Dutch croquette on a Chinese-Indonesian basis. The Dutch fries’ culture was further enriched with the arrival of the French fries satay sauce, later sublimated with onions and mayo into the infamous French fries’ war.

The Chinese takeaway made its entrance in the Netherlands during the 1980s and became as common as French fries. At first you had to bring your own pan, but soon there were plastic containers. After ordering, a beer was often drunk while waiting. The prices were low and the portions huge. In the Netherlands, one of every three restaurants was Chinese. Competition from cheap eateries was not long in coming, e.g., the Italian pizzeria.

Some Chinese moved on to better quality and authentic Chinese food in the 1990s. Another development was the wok restaurant around 2000. The old Chinese wisdom of big, fast, a lot and cheap still applies here. In 2006, the largest wok restaurant in Europe opened its doors in Maarssen, the Netherlands, with seating for 1.600 guests. Meanwhile, in the 21st century, more and more Chinese in the Netherlands and Belgium are making the switch to the snack bar. The Chinese restaurant became too difficult due to too much staff and taxes.

In Belgium, fries are a national symbol. It was quite an achievement in 2011 when the snack bar 'De Nachtegaal' (= “The Nightingale) by Ming Chen and Benny Wu, in Lommel, Belgium, was voted the best fryer in Belgian Limburg. The ultimate Flemish acceptance came in 2012 when 'Frietchinees' (=” Chinese Fries”) was chosen as word of the year.