Catalog
50 Gulden
| Issuer | Government of the Netherlands East Indies |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Green intaglio-printed note with a portrait vignette of Queen Wilhelmina at right and the crowned supported Arms of the Netherlands East Indies at left. The denomination is expressed both in Dutch (VIJFTIG NEDERLANDSCH INDISCHE GOUVERNEMENTSGULDEN) and Malay (LIMA POELOEH ROEPIAH) across the face. Guilloche underprint patterns frame the central field, with the imprint of the American Bank Note Company at the lower margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Green note with a central allegorical vignette composed of three military vignettes representing the Dutch colonial armed forces: a pilot with aircraft, a soldier, and a naval vessel. Anti-counterfeiting penal code warnings are printed in Dutch at left and in Malay (Bahasa Indonesia) at right, with the issuer's name NEDERLANDSCH INDIË across the top. |
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| Comments |
Printed in New York under wartime emergency conditions after the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies in early 1942 effectively cut off the colonial administration from its territory. The Netherlands government-in-exile — operating from London — coordinated with the American Bank Note Company to produce a series of notes intended for reintroduction once the islands were liberated. This 50 Gulden was part of that program.
Liberation came too late for an orderly reissue. By the time the war ended in 1945, Indonesian nationalist forces had declared independence, and the Dutch were in no position to restore colonial currency on their own terms. Many of the ABNC-printed notes circulated only briefly, or not at all, before the entire monetary question was overtaken by political events far larger than any single denomination.