2 1/2 Rupiah Pattern

Irian Jaya — the western half of New Guinea — was administered by the Netherlands as Netherlands New Guinea until 1962, when U.S.-brokered negotiations forced a Dutch withdrawal. The territory passed through a brief UN transitional authority before Indonesian administration began in 1963. These pattern pieces were produced during that transitional moment, apparently in anticipation of a distinct regional coinage that was never authorized for circulation. Indonesia ultimately absorbed the territory without issuing a separate Irian Jayan currency series, leaving these patterns as the only physical evidence of that aborted monetary plan.