Catalog
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| Issuer | Gouvernement Generaal van's Konings Bezittingen in Indiën |
|---|---|
| Year | 1809 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 3 Rijksdaalder |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain paper reverse bearing two large circular red wax or ink stamps at upper left and upper right, each enclosing an ornate monogram. A Chinese ink chop in a red rectangular frame appears at the middle left, with a further Chinese character inscription in black ink below it, indicating use or acceptance by Chinese merchants in the colonial trading community. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Multiple authenticating ink handstamps applied by issuing officials, including a central dated monogram stamp on the obverse and two VOC/E.E.I.C.-type circular and heart-shaped stamps at lower corners; two large red circular stamps on the reverse serve as additional validation impressions. |
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| Comments |
The Gouvernement Generaal van's Konings Bezittingen in Indiën — the Napoleonic-era governing authority installed after Louis Bonaparte made Herman Willem Daendels Governor-General in 1808 — issued this note under conditions of near-total commercial isolation. The British naval blockade had severed Batavia's trade connections with the Netherlands, and conventional specie was in chronic short supply across the colony.
Printed locally in Batavia rather than shipped from Europe, the notes relied on handstamping as their primary authentication — a pragmatic solution when sophisticated anti-counterfeiting infrastructure simply did not exist in the colony. The rijksdaalder denomination itself was already an anachronism by 1809, tied to a monetary system that Napoleonic reorganization was in the process of dismantling back in Europe.