50.000 Roepiah

One of the more striking examples of emergency currency issued during the Indonesian National Revolution, this note was produced by the Labuhan Batu regency administration in Rantau Prapat using whatever materials were at hand — in this case, ruled notebook paper. The Republican government had encouraged local authorities to issue their own currency to keep regional economies functioning as Dutch forces blockaded and disrupted central supply lines.

The lined substrate is not a curiosity but a necessity. Printing infrastructure in the interior of Sumatra in 1948 was essentially nonexistent at the administrative level.